Yao Chen ( zh, c=姚晨, poj=Iâu Sîn, p=Yáo chén, born 5 October 1979) is a Chinese actress and philanthropist.
She achieved early success with her role in the sitcom ''
My Own Swordsman'' (2006) and went on to star in the television series ''
Lurk'' (2008), ''Divorce Lawyers'' (2014), and ''
All Is Well'' (2019). Her notable film credits include ''
Caught in the Web'' (2012), ''
Firestorm'' (2013), ''
Lost, Found'' (2018), and ''
Send Me to the Clouds'' (2019).
In the early 2010s, Yao gained enormous popularity on
Weibo, becoming the first "Weibo Queen" at the 2010
Weibo Night. In 2013, she was named the first
UN Refugee Agency Goodwill Ambassador in China.
In 2014, Yao was named as one of the most influential people on the ''
Time 100
''Time'' 100 is a list of the top 100 most influential people, assembled by the American news magazine ''Time''. First published in 1999 as the result of a debate among American academics, politicians, and journalists, the list is now a highly ...
'' list,
and named by ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
'' as the 83rd most powerful woman in the world.
Yao ranked 77th on ''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine founded by B. C. Forbes in 1917. It has been owned by the Hong Kong–based investment group Integrated Whale Media Investments since 2014. Its chairman and editor-in-chief is Steve Forbes. The co ...
''
China Celebrity 100 list in 2008, 73rd in 2009, 78th in 2010, 24th in 2011, 33rd in 2012, 56th in 2013, 69th in 2014, 41st in 2015, and 60th in 2019.
Early life
Yao was born in
Fuzhou
Fuzhou is the capital of Fujian, China. The city lies between the Min River (Fujian), Min River estuary to the south and the city of Ningde to the north. Together, Fuzhou and Ningde make up the Eastern Min, Mindong linguistic and cultural regi ...
,
Fujian
Fujian is a provinces of China, province in East China, southeastern China. Fujian is bordered by Zhejiang to the north, Jiangxi to the west, Guangdong to the south, and the Taiwan Strait to the east. Its capital is Fuzhou and its largest prefe ...
province on 5 October 1979 to a middle-class family. She studied
Chinese folk dance at the
Beijing Dance Academy
The Beijing Dance Academy (BDA, ) is a municipal public professional dance college at Haidian District, Haidian, Beijing. The academy is the highest institution for dance education and assessment in the People's Republic of China, conducting the ...
from 1993 to 1997. From 1999 to 2003, she studied acting at the
Beijing Film Academy, where her classmates included actors Ling Xiaosu,
Yu Bo, and Ye Jing.
Career
Acting
Yao was propelled to fame by her role as the daughter of a powerful martial artist in the 2005 sitcom ''
My Own Swordsman''.
Following this, in 2008, she played the part of a guerilla leader in the popular series ''
Lurk,'' for which she won the Best Actress award at the
Huading Awards and the
Golden Eagle Awards.
Yao opened a
Sina Weibo account in 2009, becoming one of the earliest celebrities in China to embrace social media, which led to runaway success. In the early 2010s, her immense popularity on Chinese social media earned her the title of “Weibo Queen.”
In 2009, Yao made her theatrical debut, playing a white-collar heroine in ''A Story of Lala's Promotion''.
She also had a supporting role in the romantic comedy ''
Sophie's Revenge''. Yao then starred in romantic comedy ''Color Me Love'' (2010) as an aspiring fashion magazine editor, which would go on to become one of her most famous film roles.
In 2012, Yao starred in
Chen Kaige's social drama ''
Caught in the Web'' as a truth-seeking journalist. She then starred alongside
Andy Lau
Andy Lau Tak-wah ( zh, order=t,j, t=劉德華, j=Lau4 Dak1 Waa4; born Lau Fook-wing; 27 September 1961), is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He was named the "Fourth Tiger" among the Five Tiger Generals of TVB in the 1 ...
in the action thriller ''
Firestorm'', which won her the Outstanding Actress award at the
Chinese Film Media Awards.
Yao played a lawyer in the 2014 TV drama ''Divorce Lawyers,'' followed by a series of blockbusters ''
Monster Hunt'' (2015), ''
Chronicles of the Ghostly Tribe'' (2015) and ''
Journey to the West 2'' (2017). Yao was nominated as Best Supporting Actress at the
Hundred Flowers Awards for her performance in ''Monster Hunt''. She also starred in ''
MBA Partners'' (2016), playing an ambitious young woman.
In 2017, Yao served as the jury of the
23rd Shanghai Television Festival. In 2018, Yao starred in the mystery film ''
Lost, Found,'' a remake of the South Korean film ''
Missing''. In 2019, Yao starred in the family drama ''
All Is Well,'' for which she received the Best Actress Award of the
Busan International Film Festival's Asia Contents Awards. In the same year, she received the
Golden Rooster Award
The Golden Rooster Awards () are film awards given in mainland China. The awards were originally given annually, beginning in 1981. The name of the award came from the year of the Rooster in 1981. Award recipients receive a statuette in the sha ...
for the film ''
Send Me To The Clouds'' (2019), as well as the
Singapore International Film Festival’s cinema icon award.
She starred in ''
If You are the One 3'' in 2023.
Activism
In 2012, Yao was named the
UNHCR
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and Humanitarian protection, protect refugees, Internally displaced person, forcibly displaced communities, and Statelessness, s ...
's Honorary Patron for China and has visited refugees in places including the Philippines, Thailand, Somalia, Sudan and Ethiopia. The number of her Weibo followers during the visit increased dramatically.
In 2013, she was named the first UNHCR goodwill ambassador in China. Yao was among the recipients of the 2016 Crystal Award for her work on behalf of the U.N. refugee agency in raising awareness of the world refugee crisis. The same year, she was selected as one of the "Young Global Leaders" in 2016 by the World Economic Forum. Yao was also awarded the Top Influence Award at the You Bring Charm to the World award ceremony. For Yao’s works and impacts in Asia and the world, she was received 2023
Asia Game Changer Award from
Asia Society
The Asia Society is a 501(c)(3) organization that focuses on educating the world about Asia. It has several centers in the United States (Manhattan, Washington, D.C., Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle) and around the world (Hong Ko ...
.
Endorsements
In 2018, Yao was selected as brand ambassador for Italian fashion house
Etro.
In 2021, Yao Chen joined actress
Charlize Theron and prima-ballerina
Misty Copeland as brand ambassadors for
Breitling, dubbed the Breitling Spotlight Squad.
Since 2021, Italian jeweller
Pomellato has announced Yao as its Chinese Brand Ambassador.
Personal life
In 2004, Yao married college sweetheart and Chinese actor Ling Xiaosu. They divorced in 2011.
Yao married cinematographer
Cao Yu in November 2012. She gave birth to their son in 2013, and three years later, she gave birth to their daughter.
Filmography
Film
Television series
Discography
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Yao Chen's official Weibo(Chinese)
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Yao, Chen
1979 births
Living people
Actresses from Fuzhou
Chinese television actresses
21st-century Chinese actresses
Chinese stage actresses
Beijing Film Academy alumni
Chinese film actresses
People from Shishi, Fujian
Chinese Christians
Asia Contents Awards & Global OTT Awards winners