Ella Chen

Ella Chen Chia-hwa (; born 18 June 1981) is a Taiwanese singer, actress, and television host. She is a member of the Taiwanese girl group S.H.E.

Musical career

On 8 August 2000, HIM International Music held a 'Universal 2000 Talent and Beauty Girl Contest' in search of new artists to sign under their label. When Chen traveled with her older sister to Taipei for a holiday, she discovered that her sister had registered her for the competition. Intimidated by the long line of contestants and worried of facing ridicule for her tomboy personality, Chen almost gave up before the first round, but her sister convinced her to stay. Chen's deep voice caught the label's attention, and she reached the final round. Her alto voice was noted for its strong and beautiful nature.

Following the conclusion of the contest, Chen returned to her duties at a local hospital, but received a call from HIM International requesting an additional audition. After test recordings were done, she signed on as part of HIM's newest girl group, S.H.E. Her English name 'Ella', which means courage, was derived from a personality test set by HIM Management Co. When Chen first tested out her signature, HIM employees were concerned that the signature would be easily forged due to its simplicity; thus, during S.H.E's early days, Ella signed autographs using the last character of her name, (). However, as S.H.E's autograph sessions drew larger audiences, Chen reverted to her simpler, English signature.

During her career with S.H.E, Chen has been the most accident-prone member. On , she was sent to the hospital after jumping from the third story of a building and injuring her spine while filming a variety program; the two other members refused to jump. She returned three weeks later to promote '' Super Star''. In 2005, during the filming of ''Reaching for the Stars'', Chen burned her ears and hair on a candle, prompting crew members to send her to the National Taiwan University Hospital.Feng Yijian. Liberty Times
Ella catches fire; hair burnt, ears swollen.
. Retrieved . She stayed away from filming for two days, during which she cut off approximately two centimeters of burnt hair on both sides of her head.

In 2007, Chen was voted by online fans as Taiwan's most down-to-earth artist. Since the release of S.H.E's first album in 2001, Chen has usually been the one to answer reporter's questions. As the tomboy of S.H.E, Chen is frequently the subject of jokes targeting her gender and sexual orientation, but she usually takes the jabs in stride. In one online poll she was labelled as one of China's Four Main Tomboys of the past century.

In 2009, Chen composed a song for her seniors Power Station, entitled "''Love Crazy''/愛到瘋癲" (originally titled Shi Mian/Insomnia (), written after her failed heartbreaking relationship). The song was given to them as repayment for Power Station have given S.H.E the song "Freezer". Chen had also composed a station song entitled ''"Pop Radio 91.7 jingle"'' for Taiwan Pop Radio station " Pop Radio 91.7," 再这里 for Huang Yi Da (), 鸟 for Yao Yao.

Acting career

Her unusually deep voice earned her a starring role as the voice of Arthur in the Mandarin version of '' Arthur and the Minimoys''.

In 2003, Chen starred in drama series The Rose () with Joe Cheng () and Jerry Huang (). The drama was voted the Most Popular Drama at the Golden Bell Awards.

In 2005, Chen and her S.H.E group mates were involved in a drama called Reaching for the Stars (). She was the only member nominated for Best Lead Actress at the 41st Golden Bell Awards. In 2006, Chen accepted a role in drama series Hanazakarino Kimitachihe () with Wu Chun (). The show was popular both in Taiwan and internationally in China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and in non-Chinese speaking countries like Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, the USA and some European countries.

2010 marked Chen's return to the drama series arena when she starred alongside Jerry Yan (), in Down With Love ().

In 2012, Chen ventured onto the big screen in her first full-length film New Perfect Two () alongside Vic Zhou (). This was immediately followed by another equally successful movie, Bad Girls () with Mike He (). Bad Girls' theme song was covered by Chen and became the carrier single of her first commercial mini album entitled To Be Ella/I am Chen Jia Hua, which topped the charts all over Asia and gained various praises from the critics and nominations from different award giving bodies on the same year.

As a singer and an actress, Chen has also appeared in various music videos such as 愛的重唱曲-覆水難收篇 (2004-04-05), 再一次拥有 (2005) by Kaira Gong and 愛到瘋癲 (2009) by Power Station.

In 2013, Chen filmed a Chinese New Year Drama in Shanghai entitled ''Ji Pin Da Zuo Zhan'' which required her to film one month straight as she went back and forth from Taiwan to Shanghai to fulfill her group activities in her home country.

Chen also hosted a dating show, ''Take Me Out,'' with Harlem Yu which began airing on . She was nominated for Best Entertainment TV Show Host along with Yu at the 49th Golden Bell Awards. Chen was a judge in Season 2 of the Chinese reality singing television show, Masked Singer.

Chen was a vocal mentor on Produce 101 China, which aired in 2018. In 2020, Chen joined Season 2 of the Chinese survival show, Youth With You (Season 2), which was previously known as the third season of Idol Producer, as a vocal coach along with Cai Xukun, Lisa, and Jony J.

In 2023, Chen participated in the fourth season of the Chinese reality singing survival show '' Ride the Wind'' (previously known as ''Sisters Who Make Waves''), where she ended up placing first.

Personal life

In October 2016, Chen announced that she was 6 weeks pregnant with her first child with her husband, Alvin Lai, who is Malaysian. Their child, a boy, was born on .
She first revealed her son nine months after his birth on social media. He later appeared at S.H.E 17th anniversary concert as a surprise guest.

Discography

Studio albums

*'' Why Not'' (2015)
*''Bad Habits'' (2024)

Extended plays

*'' To Be Ella'' (2012)
*''Ella Show Entertainment Unlimited Company'' (2020)

Filmography

Television series

Film

Variety show

Music videos

References

External links

*
*
*
*
*
*

Ella Chen
at HIM International Music

S.H.E
at HIM International Music

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Ella

1981 births
Living people
People from Pingtung County
S.H.E members
Taiwanese people of Hakka descent
People from Meixian District
Taiwanese television actresses
Taiwanese film actresses
Hakka musicians
Participants in Chinese reality television series
Taiwanese idols
Taiwanese expatriates in Malaysia
21st-century Taiwanese actresses
21st-century Taiwanese singers
21st-century Taiwanese women singers