Fala Chen


Fala Chen is a Chinese-American actress who has appeared on film, television, and stage. She is best known for her leading roles in TV drama Triumph in the Skies II ; Films Tales from the Dark 1, Turning Point, and Despicable Me 3. Her notable role on stage includes Kyra Hollis from Skylight by David Hare. In 2018, Chen wrote, directed and starred in short film Passinger, the film was selected as the finalists for the Sundance Film Festival: Hong Kong Short Film Competition. She will next be seen in the upcoming HBO miniseries, The Undoing. Fala’s mother tongue is in Mandarin, but she is known to be multilingual, and can speak fluently in English, Cantonese, and Japanese.

Early life and Education

Chen was born and raised in Chengdu, Sichuan, China until 14 years old, when she emigrated to Atlanta, Georgia, United States with her parents. Graduating from high school within the top 10 of her cohorts, she then went on to pursue a course in Marketing and International Business in Emory University's Goizueta Business School, Georgia in May, 2005.
During her college term breaks, Chen took part in a couple of pageants as a means to pay for her tuition fees. Amongst them was the Miss Chinese International Pageant 2005 which was hosted in Hong Kong, where she earned a place as 1st runner-up, kicking off her career in entertainment.
In 2014, Chen went on to pursue a 4-year Master of Fine Arts in Drama Program at the prestigious Juilliard School in New York City. She graduated in May 2018.

Career

TV career

2005–06: Entry to the TV scene

Chen began her professional acting career when she signed an 8-year contract with TVB. She first started out as a host on numerous variety shows on TVB8's Mandarin channel, before making her acting debut in the TVB series Forensic Heroes, where she was cast as a murderess.

2007–09: Breakthrough

In 2007, after starring in Heart of Greed, The Family Link, and Steps, Chen won her first acting award in the Best Supporting Actress category for her role in Steps. Additionally, she was also nominated for "My Favorite Female Character" and "Most Improved Actress" categories for the same role. She also received a nomination in the "Most Improved Actress" category for her roles in Heart of Greed and The Family Link in 2007.
Chen's breakthrough came in 2008, when her notable work was the character of Gam Wing Hing in a TVB series Moonlight Resonance, a non-related sequel to Heart of Greed. The final episode of the series received an average of 47 rating points and peaked at 50 points. Chen had to specially learn sign language in order to portray her character. This role landed her nominations for the "Best Supporting Actress" and "My Favorite Female Character" categories for the second year in a row.
In 2009, Chen was nominated again for the "Best Supporting Actress" and "My Favorite Female Character" categories for her role in The Stew of Life.

2010–13: Leading roles and entry to the music scene

Chen's acting in 2010's No Regrets secured her position as one of Hong Kong's celebrated actresses, alongside Tavia Yeung, Linda Chung, Myolie Wu, and Kate Tsui. Her role as Lau Ching in No Regrets, not only won her Best Supporting Actress at the TVB Anniversary Awards in 2010, but also brought her recognition at the 16th Asian Television Awards in Singapore for "The Best Actress in a Supporting Role" category.
With a total of five dramas belted out in 2010 alone, Chen was one of the few actresses within the industry with a higher exposure rate.
Since then, she has been taking on leading roles in numerous productions, and some of which were Lives of Omission, Queens of Diamonds and Hearts, and Triumph in the Skies II. Lives of Omission was a distant sequel to the 2009 film Turning Point in which Chen had also acted in as the sister of a triad boss. Queens of Diamonds and Hearts allowed Chen to experiment with looking 'ugly' on screen for the first time, as her character Chung Mo Yim was born with a prominent birth mark on her face. Triumph in the Skies II was a sequel to the station's previous drama Triumph in the Skies. Chen played the role of Holiday Ho - a free-spirited punk girl who aspires to fly - who became emotionally entangled between 2 male leads, Captain Samuel Tong played by Francis Ng and Captain Jayden Koo played by Julian Cheung. Chen also starred in one of TVB's 2013 productions Will Power 《法外風雲》 alongside veteran actors Wayne Lai and Moses Chan where she played the role of Sam Yuet Kan, a junior barrister with a tough personality.
Since 2009, Chen has been sporadically participating in the music scene, singing theme songs for The Stew of Life, Links to Temptation, and Queens of Diamonds and Hearts. In 2010, Chen signed under Stars Shine International and subsequently launched her first album in 2012, titled Beautiful Life. Her contract with Stars Shine International has come to an end.
At the same time, her contract with Television Broadcasts Limited had ended in the middle of 2013, and Chen is currently a self-managed artiste. Having more freedom to choose and ever so determined to become a better actress, Chen would like to direct her focus on filming more movies and dramas, and she is not afraid to take up new challenges.

2014: Entry into China's TV industry

Chen acted in her first mainland Chinese drama series, Sound of the Desert, where she played the role of Li Yan. It aired in 2014 and was based on the historical romance novel Ballad of the Desert by Tong Hua.

2019: Entry into the US TV industry

Shortly after graduating from the Juilliard School, Chen is cast as Jolene in The Undoing, along with Nicole Kidman and Hugh Grant.

Film career

2009: Newcomer

In 2009, Chen took her chance at her first leading female character in the movie Turning Point as Michael Tse's girlfriend and Francis Ng's sister. Turning Point is a spin-off from a TVB crime drama in 2009 - E.U., where "Laughing Gor", played by Michael Tse, has become a household name.
Chen was nominated for the Best New Performer category at the 29th Hong Kong Film Awards for her role in Turning Point.

2010–13: Budding film actress

Ever since her first break into the movie scene in 2009, Chen has been continuously involved in a string of movies almost every year despite her busy work schedule at TVB.
In 2010, Chen starred in two movies, Black Ransom and 72 Tenants of Prosperity. In Black Ransom, she acted as a superintendent, alongside internationally acclaimed Hong Kong actor and film producer, Simon Yam. 72 Tenants of Prosperity on the other hand, was a light-hearted Hong Kong comedy film directed by Eric Tsang, involving a star-studded cast of Hong Kong stars.
Chen took to the movie scene again in 2011, acting in the first installment of the heartwarming I Love Hong Kong film series, directed and produced by Eric Tsang. She too worked together with Eric Tsang again who produced and acted in The Fortune Buddies, another Hong Kong comedy film which also co-stars Louis Yuen, Wong Cho-lam and Johnson Lee who are better known as "Fuk Luk Sau".
Tales from the Dark 2 was her first shot at the horror movie scene, and acting with her is Gordon Lam. Chen's story revolves around pillow demons, where her character Chow Jing Ee is seen to suffer from serious insomnia after her break-up with her boyfriend Yuen Hao Hong, played by Gordon Lam. Chen delivered a stellar performance, and was commended for the preparation work she did prior to filming, by staying a few nights alone in the cold apartment they filmed at to get into character and understand the loneliness and insomnia that the character suffered. The media had focused on the scene where Chen's character accidentally killed her boyfriend and tried to get rid of the corpse by taking off all of his garments and putting him into a vacuum bag. This is the first time that Gordon Lam has gone fully nude in a film. Owing to the explicit scenes, the movie has received a Category III rating.
Chen starred in the Cantonese version of Despicable Me 3 as the voice of Lucy Wilde, an Anti-Villain League agent, Gru's wife and the girls' adoptive mother. Doing voice-over for an animation film for the very first time, Chen commented that it requires a lot of energy and precision to sync with the character's lip movement, and it takes capturing the unique sounds and myriad of nuances in personality to bring the character to life.

2015: Movies Pending Release

Chen has concluded filming for The Treasure, directed by Gordon Chan and Ronald Tsang.

2020: US feature debut

Chen is rumored to be cast in the upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe feature film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.

Theatre career

2013-16: Stage Debut

Ever since Chen's contract with Television Broadcasts Limited concluded in 2013, she went on to pursue a 4-year Master of Fine Arts in Drama Program at Juilliard School with the passion and determination to better herself as a professional artiste. The MFA Program only accepts 8 to 10 students each year, and encompasses areas such as production, directing, playwriting, pedagogy, and current trends in American and World Theater.
Chen's debut on the theatre stage came in 2016 with Skylight - the premiere of Chinese adaptation of the 1995 British play written by David Hare that debuted in West End and Broadway. The play was scheduled to run for 24 shows at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts, but due to overwhelming responses, 11 additional shows were added, making that a total of 35 shows running across 1 July 2016 to 14 August 2016. Starring alongside Dayo Wong and Terrance Lau, Skylight was a sold out show within a few hours, and it received plenty of raving positive reviews including praises for Chen's performance as a theatre actor.

Music career

2012: First album - ''Beautiful Life''

Chen's first Canto-pop debut album, Beautiful Life, was released on 31 July 2012. Some of the highlights from the album are "一半", "愛上鳥", and "Beautiful Life". Among these songs, "一半" was the first plugged song which garnered her awards in the Best Newcomer category across various music platforms such as 2012 TVB8 Golden Music Awards for the Bronze Award, 2012 Jade Solid Gold Best Ten Music Awards Presentation, and "2013 IFPI Hong Kong Top Sales Music Awards".
Within a week from the launch of her album, it had climbed up to first place on HMV's 'Asian Album Top Sales Chart'.

Endorsements

Chen is the spokesperson for Olay in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. She is also Hong Kong Cancer Fund’s Pink Ambassador for the Pink Revolution Campaign, which is held every October to promote breast cancer awareness and raise funds to support free services for patients and their families.

Filmography

TV series

Film

Theatre

Discography

Albums

Awards

2013