Lynn Chen () is a
Taiwanese-American actress and singer. She is best known for playing Vivian Shing in the film ''
Saving Face'', a role for which she won the "Outstanding Newcomer Award" at the 2006 Asian Excellence Awards. She writes the popular food blog The Actor's Diet. Chen was named a 2013 "New Change Agent" by ''
Marie Claire''.
Early life
Chen was born in
Queens
Queens is the largest by area of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. Located near the western end of Long Island, it is bordered by the ...
, New York and raised in
Cresskill, New Jersey. Her mother is an opera singer and father was the founding president of The
Kunqu Society, Inc. She has one brother; he is also in the music field. Her parents came to America from
Taiwan
Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
in the late 1960s. Chen attended
Wesleyan University
Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...
, where she studied Women's Studies and Music.
Career
Chen has appeared in
Alice Wu's film ''
Saving Face'' as Vivian Shing opposite
Michelle Krusiec (playing Wilhemina Pang, Shing's love interest) and
Joan Chen. For her role in that film, she won the "Outstanding Newcomer Award" at the 2006 Asian Excellence Awards.
Television
In 2014, Chen appeared on the episode "Proof of Concept" of
Mike Judge's HBO show, ''
Silicon Valley
Silicon Valley is a region in Northern California that is a global center for high technology and innovation. Located in the southern part of the San Francisco Bay Area, it corresponds roughly to the geographical area of the Santa Clara Valley ...
'' as Grace Melcher. Before ''Saving Face'', Chen appeared on TV shows such as ''
All My Children
''All My Children'' (often shortened to ''AMC'') is an American television soap opera that aired on American Broadcasting Company, ABC from January 5, 1970, to September 23, 2011, and on The Online Network (TOLN) from April 29 to September 2, 2 ...
'' (as reoccurring character Regina), ''
Law & Order'' (as Jenny Wu), ''
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'' (as Helen Chen), and a 2002 episode of ''
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The ...
'' hosted by
Jon Stewart as a Vietnamese Girl. She has also appeared on the TV Shows ''
Law & Order: Trial by Jury'' (as Lin – Kressel's Assistant), ''
Numb3rs'' (as Bree Eng), ''
NCIS: Los Angeles'' (as Nurse Lisa), and the pilot for the show ''
The Singles Table'' (as Lexi Park). In 2015 she played a nurse in the pilot episode of ''
The Walking Dead'' spinoff series ''
Fear the Walking Dead''.
Feature films
Chen has also appeared in feature films such as
Neil LaBute's ''
Lakeview Terrace'' (2008) opposite
Samuel L. Jackson (as Eden), David Langlitz's ''
Mentor'' (2006) opposite
Rutger Hauer (as Susan),
Quentin Lee's ''
The People I've Slept With'' (2009) (as Juliet, the sister of
Karin Anna Cheung's character), Richard Wong's ''Yes, We're Open'' (2012) (as Sylvia, the wife of
Parry Shen's character),
Dave Boyle's ''
White on Rice'' (2009) (as Ramona),
Dave Boyle's ''
Surrogate Valentine'' (2011) and ''
Daylight Savings'' (2012) (as Rachel), Tom Huang's ''Why Am I Doing This?'' (2009) (as Katie), Kedar Korde's ''Xs & Oxs'' (2007) (as Gwen), Jennifer Sharp's ''I'm Through with White Girls (The Inevitable Undoing of Jay Brooks'' (2007) (as Candace), and Mark Levin's ''
Little Manhattan'' (2005). She wrote and directed the 2020 film ''
I Will Make You Mine'', which was the third in the ''Surrogate Valentine'' trilogy and was a selection of the 2020 South By Southwest Film Festival.
Web series and online content
She currently appears on a web series entitled ''Nice Girls Crew'' directed by
Tanuj Chopra (
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023.
The festival has acted ...
Humanitas Prize Winner ''Punching at the Sun'') and written by Chopra and Christine Kwon. The web series also stars her ''
Saving Face'' co-star
Michelle Krusiec as well as
Sheetal Sheth. She also appears on an episode of Andrea Lwin's web series, ''Slanted'' (as Samantha). Chen has also written and produced a short film entitled ''Via Text'' (2011), which was directed by her husband Abe Forman-Greenwald.
[Via Text, Cast/Crew, ]
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
References
External links
*
Lynn Chen's food blogLynn Chen- Eat, Act, LoveLynn Chen & Lisa Lee: Thick Dumpling Skin
{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Lynn
Actresses from New Jersey
American actresses of Chinese descent
American actresses of Taiwanese descent
American film actresses
American television actresses
American voice actresses
Living people
People from Cresskill, New Jersey
Actresses from Queens, New York
Wesleyan University alumni
21st-century American actresses
21st-century American women singers
Year of birth missing (living people)
Actors from Bergen County, New Jersey