Ella Chen

In this Chinese name, the family name is Chen.
Ella Chen
陳嘉樺
Ella Chen in 2015
Born
Chen Chia-hwa

(1981-06-18) 18 June 1981
Linluo, Pingtung, Taiwan
Occupations
  • Singer
  • actress
  • television host
Years active2001–present
Agent(s)EHalo Entertainment CO., LTD
Spouse
Alvin Lai
​
(m. 2012)​
Children1 son
Musical career
Also known asChen Jiahua
GenresMandopop
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
  • guitar
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese陳嘉樺
Simplified Chinese陈嘉桦
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinChén Jiāhuà

Ella Chen Chia-hwa (traditional Chinese: 陳嘉樺; simplified Chinese: 陈嘉桦; pinyin: Chén Jiāhuà; 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

See also: S.H.E § Musical career, and S.H.E § Television and film 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.[1]

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.[2] 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, (pinyin: huà). However, as S.H.E's autograph sessions drew larger audiences, Chen reverted to her simpler, English signature.[3]

During her career with S.H.E, Chen has been the most accident-prone member. On 29 July 2003, 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.[4] 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.[4]

In 2007, Chen was voted by online fans as Taiwan's most down-to-earth artist.[5] Since the release of S.H.E's first album in 2001, Chen has usually been the one to answer reporter's questions.[6] 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.[7] In one online poll she was labelled as one of China's Four Main Tomboys of the past century.[8]

In 2009, Chen composed a song for her seniors Power Station, entitled "Love Crazy/愛到瘋癲" (originally titled Shi Mian/Insomnia (失眠), 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 (黄义达), 鸟 for Yao Yao.

2012–present

On March 30, 2012, Ella released her debut solo EP, "To Be Ella", which featured the theme song, insert songs, and the ending theme from her starring film, "Bad Girls". The album also includes the track "Shameless", the film's ending theme "I Am Just Me", composed by Ella herself, and a special bonus track: a duet with Greeny Wu titled "You've Been Written in My Song" (Chamber Music Version).

On April 17, 2015, Ella Chen released her debut solo studio album, "Why Not". The album features three songs from her acting projects, including the ending theme "The Really Me" (which she composed herself) and the insert song "Unsolvable" from the TV series The Lying Game, as well as "Almost", the theme song for the film The Missing Piece.

The album ranked 9th in annual sales in Taiwan[9], and the official music video for the track "Love Addiction" has surpassed 10 million views on YouTube.

On November 14 and 15, 2020, the "ELLA Show: Entertainment Unlimited" was held for two consecutive days at the Taipei Music Center[10]. Following the performances, on November 16, 2020, Ella Chen released the digital EP "Ella Show Entertainment Unlimited Company", which features the main tracks from the live show, including "Don't Wanna Be A Song Without a Chorus", "A CA ELLA", and "Entertainment Unlimited Company".

On August 20, 2022, the "ELLA Show: Entertainment Unlimited" was held at the Kaohsiung Music Center[11]. Tickets sold out instantly after going on sale on March 12[12], making her the first female singer to hold a solo concert at the venue since it opened.

On March 31, 2024, Ella released her second solo studio album, "Bad Habits" on digital platforms, followed by the official physical released on April 1. Subsequently, she held the "Bad Habits New Album Concert" in Taipei on April 13.[13]

On September 10, 2025, Ella Chen officially announced her solo concert tour, "It's Me," and released a video featuring Selina and Hebe. In the video, they promoted her solo tour in the name of S.H.E.[14] The tour kicked off its first show on November 15 and 16, 2025, at the Helong Stadium in Changsha, China.[15]

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" (薔薇之戀) with Joe Cheng (鄭元暢) and Jerry Huang (黃志瑋). The drama was voted the Most Popular Drama at the 39th Golden Bell Awards.

In 2005, Chen and her S.H.E group mates were involved in a drama called "Reaching for the Stars" (真命天女), and she also performed the insert song "Only Then" solo for this drama, which was included in the "Reaching for the Stars OST". 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" (花样少年少女) with Wu Chun (吳尊). 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 (言承旭), in "Down With Love" (就想賴著妳).

In 2012, Chen ventured onto the big screen in her first full-length film New Perfect Two (新天生一對) alongside Vic Chou (周渝民). This was immediately followed by another equally successful movie, "Bad Girls" (女孩坏坏) with Mike He (賀軍翔). 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 13 April 2013. 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.

In March 2016, the film "The Missing Piece", starring Ella, was selected for the competition section of "The 11th Osaka Asian Film Festival", where she won the "Yakushi Pearl Award" (Best Actor Award) for her performance[16].

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.[17]

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.[18]

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 12 April 2017.[19] She first revealed her son nine months after his birth on social media.[20] He later appeared at S.H.E 17th anniversary concert as a surprise guest.[21]

Discography

Main article: Ella Chen discography
See also: S.H.E discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

  • To Be Ella (2012)
  • Ella Show Entertainment Unlimited Company (2020)[22]

Concerts

Concert Name Date City Country Venue ref
Ella's Show Entertainment Unlimited November 14, 2020 Taipei Taiwan Taipei Music Center [23]
November 15, 2020
August 20, 2022 Kaohsiung Kaohsiung Music Center [24]
"It's Me" Tour November 15, 2025 Changsha China Helong Stadium [15]
November 16, 2025
November 28, 2025 Hangzhou Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center Tennis Center
November 29, 2025
December 20, 2025 Guangzhou Guangzhou Asian Games Town Gymnasium
December 21, 2025
January 24, 2026 Shanghai Shanghai Oriental Sports Center [25]
January 25, 2026
February 7, 2026 Nanning Guangxi Sports Center Gymnasium
February 8, 2026
March 7, 2026 Xi'an Xi'an Olympic Sports Center Gymnasium
March 8, 2026

Filmography

See also: S.H.E filmography

Television series

Year English title Original title Role Notes
2002 Magical Love 愛情大魔咒 Juliet
2003 The Rose 薔薇之戀 Zheng Baihe
2005 Reaching for the Stars 真命天女 Ren Jie
2006 Hanazakarino Kimitachihe 花樣少年少女 Lu Ruixi (Ashiya Mizuki)
2007 The Lollipop Idol Drama 棒棒糖偶像劇 Herself
2010 Down With Love 就想赖着你 Yang Guo
2013 Ji Pin Da Zuo Zhan 極品大作戰 Yang Aiwa
2014 The Lying Game 謊言遊戲 Sun Zhen
2014 Love by the River 河畔卿卿 Chen Yuanxiu cameo
2023 Dr. Lifesaver 生命捕手 Xu Min’an
2024 Dr. Lifesaver 2 生命捕手2 Xu Min’an
2024 Us Without Sex 今夜一起為愛鼓掌 Song Qingyu [26]

Film

Year English title Original title Role Notes
2010 The Long Goodbye
2011 Abba
2012 Perfect Two 新天生一對 Ma Niu
2012 Bad Girls 女孩壞壞 Ah Dan
2015 Lucky Star 吉星高照2015 Wang Zu Hong
2015 The Missing Piece 缺角一族 Sha Sha
2019 Big Three Dragons 大三元 Shen Wu Que
2021 Listen Before You Sing 聽見歌再唱 Huang Yun-fen [27]
2022 Summer 野夏天 Wu You-Li [28]
2023 Red Line 速命道 Hui Hui

Variety show

Year English title Chinese title Role Notes
2018 Produce 101 創造101 Vocal Instructor
2020 Youth With You (Season 2) 青春有你2 Vocal Instructor
2023 Ride the Wind 2023 乘风2023 Contestant

Music videos

Year Song title Artist Notes
2005 "To Have It Once Again" (再一次擁有) Kaira Gong [29]
2007 "Personal Angel" (專屬天使) Tank
2009 "Crazy Love" (愛到瘋癲) Power Station
2017 "Beginning of the End" (終於結束的起點) Mayday [30]
2019 "Like Boom Boom" (來個蹦蹦) Nine One One [31]

References

  1. ^ "网易教育频道". 5 November 2003. Archived from the original on 7 September 2007. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  2. ^ "Selina revealed what their English names were before S.H.E". YouTube. 6 December 2009. Archived from the original on 22 December 2021. Retrieved 29 November 2016.
  3. ^ "《S.H.E生活的娱乐叙事》(4)". Sina.com. 14 September 2004. Archived from the original on 7 April 2008. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  4. ^ a b Feng Yijian. Liberty Times. Ella catches fire; hair burnt, ears swollen. Archived 26 June 2007 at the Wayback Machine 23 June 2005. Retrieved 15 February 2007.
  5. ^ (in Chinese) Yahoo! China News. Fans vote; sweetheart Cindy Wang is too fake, Tony Chen's fakeness gets him first place. 16 March 2007. Retrieved 16 March 2007.
  6. ^ (in Chinese) S.H.E Girl Friends had three people sleeping on one bed. Archived 14 March 2007 at the Wayback Machine 2 December 2001. Retrieved 27 February 2007.
  7. ^ Woodworth, Max (13 August 2004). "Pop Stop - Taipei Times". www.taipeitimes.com. Retrieved 11 April 2023.
  8. ^ "T２T！流行娛樂台". Retrieved 28 June 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: deprecated archival service (link)
  9. ^ 3cmusic (2 February 2016). "台灣2015五大唱片華語唱片銷量，林俊傑稱霸". 3C Music 中文唱片評論 (in Chinese).{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  10. ^ "Ella辦「廟會」吸金2600萬 自爆聯絡好電音三太子" (in Traditional Chinese). Liberty Times. 14 November 2020.
  11. ^ "Ella陳嘉樺「艾拉秀」高雄場8月開唱！推出Q萌插畫版限定口罩" (in Traditional Chinese). [Marie Claire]]. 21 July 2022.
  12. ^ "Ella克制緊張門票秒殺 忙備戰自虧5月「剉咧等」" (in Traditional Chinese). China Times. 12 March 2022.
  13. ^ "Ella免費音樂會太佛心 一開放「瞬間搶光」" (in Traditional Chinese). United Daily News. 16 March 2024.
  14. ^ "要開唱！S.H.E合體宣布「重磅喜訊」粉絲感動爆：雞皮疙瘩！" (in Traditional Chinese). United Daily News. 10 September 2025.
  15. ^ a b "誠意滿滿！萬眾期待，Ella陳嘉樺首次個人巡迴演唱會《It's Me 艾拉主意》11/15、16一連兩晚在長沙正式開唱！" (in Traditional Chinese). Hit Fm. 17 November 2025.
  16. ^ "恭喜！Ella靠《缺角一族》勇奪大阪亞洲電影節最佳演員！" (in Traditional Chinese). China Times. 13 March 2016.
  17. ^ "Ella Chen Praises BLACKPINK's Lisa as a "Human Barbie"". 三八姐姐. 13 March 2020. Archived from the original on 26 March 2020. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  18. ^ "S.H.E singer Ella Chen wins Ride The Wind 2023 despite losing 7kg from stress". The Straits Times. 24 July 2023.
  19. ^ "Meet S.H.E singer Ella Chen's newborn baby boy". The Straits Times. 13 April 2017. Archived from the original on 13 July 2018. Retrieved 13 July 2018.
  20. ^ Yip, Jieying (20 January 2018). "Ella Chen's Son Is Nine Months Old And He's A Total Cutie". 8 Days. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  21. ^ "Ella Chen's son steals spotlight at S.H.E's 17th anniversary concert". 8 Days. Retrieved 8 April 2020.
  22. ^ ETtoday. "Ella無預警宣布「啟動全新計畫」！　回歸「小男生造型」還當董事長". Retrieved 4 December 2020.
  23. ^ "Ella脫口秀自嘲像「廟會」！　吐金句虧老公「帶來風風雨雨」全場笑了" (in Traditional Chinese). ETtoday. Retrieved 14 November 2020.
  24. ^ "Ella「艾拉秀」辣曬美胸嫩背笑喊寶刀未老　Selina、Hebe現身力挺閨蜜情甜暈全場" (in Traditional Chinese). Up Media. 20 August 2022.
  25. ^ "Ella上海演唱會《浪姐4》姐姐都來了！　包廂合唱〈我要你好好的〉感動全場粉絲" (in Traditional Chinese). babyou. 27 January 2026.
  26. ^ "單細胞中二大直男楊祐寧力作《今夜一起為愛鼓掌》楊謹華、Ella大尺度挑戰，做E個I在心裡腿難開？" (in Traditional Chinese). Marie Claire. 10 August 2024.
  27. ^ Cheung, Han (15 April 2021). "Movie review: Aboriginal children steal the show in heartwarming drama". Taipei Times. Archived from the original on 6 January 2025. Retrieved 5 October 2021.
  28. ^ "【姐妹廝殺】Ella大銀幕迎戰Selina　網友要Hebe出來面對" (in Chinese). Up Media. 3 March 2022.
  29. ^ "新人龔詩嘉出新輯　師姐ELLA跨刀演MV" (in Chinese). TVBS News. 26 October 2005.
  30. ^ "Ella Chen at douban.com". Archived from the original on 15 November 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
  31. ^ "Ella Chen at chinesemov.com". Archived from the original on 23 May 2019. Retrieved 19 May 2019.
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