# Ariel Lin

Ariel Lin Yi-chen (Chinese: 林依晨; born 29 October 1982) is a Taiwanese actress and singer. She rose to fame for her role as Yuan Xiangqin in the Taiwanese drama It Started with a Kiss (2005) and the Chinese fantasy drama The Little Fairy (2006). Lin won Best Actress at the 43rd and 47th Golden Bell Awards for her roles in They Kiss Again (2007) and In Time with You (2011) respectively.

## Career
### 2004: Beginnings

Lin was first discovered in a Taiwanese beauty contest. She made her debut in the television drama True Love 18 (2002). Lin also starred in her first film Love Me, If You Can (2004), which earned her a nomination for Best Actress at the 40th Golden Horse Awards. She gained more popularity after starring in the idol drama series My Secret Garden II and Love Contract opposite Mike He. She also sang the theme song for Love Contract, titled "Alone in the northern hemisphere", which topped the KTV and ring tone charts for 12 weeks.

### 2005–2007: Breakthrough

Lin rose to mainstream popularity for her role as Yuan Xiangqin in the popular Taiwanese idol drama It Started with a Kiss (2005). The series topped ratings in Taiwan, and was a hit across Asia.
Lin then starred in her first Chinese drama, The Little Fairy (2006) where she played the Seventh Fairy Maiden. The series was extremely popular and had high ratings, marking her successful foray into the Chinese market. The same year, she starred in Tokyo Juliet alongside Wu Chun.
Lin reunited with Joe Cheng in They Kiss Again (2007), the sequel of It Started with a Kiss. The drama had an average rating of 3.43, becoming one of the highest rated idol dramas. Lin's performance in the drama won her the Best Actress award at the 43rd Golden Bell Awards, making her the first actress in history to win the award with an idol drama. The same year, she released the single "Adventure of Lunia" as the theme song for the video game Lunia: Record of Lunia War.

### 2008–2013: Continued success and Singing career

Lin starred in the 2008 adaptation of Louis Cha's novel The Legend of the Condor Heroes. She plays Huang Rong, opposite her The Little Fairy co-star Hu Ge, who plays Guo Jing. She also starred in the Taiwanese drama Love or Bread, her third collaboration with Joe Cheng.
In 2009, Lin signed a three-year and three-album contract with Avex Taiwan. She released her first album, Blissful Encounter, which sold 20,000 copies within 2 days. The same year, she starred in her first theater play, The War and Peace between Men and Women.
Lin then starred in romance drama In Time with You (2011), co-starring Bolin Chen. It was the highest rated Taiwanese idol drama of the year and was extremely popular across Asia. Lin won her Golden Bell Award for Best Actress trophy for her performance in the series. She then starred alongside Feng Shaofeng in the historical drama Prince of Lan Ling (2013). In 2013, she was listed by Forbes as the 85th most influential celebrity in China.

### 2014–present: Films

Following her television career, Lin focused on films. In 2014, she starred in the crime caper Sweet Alibis alongside Alec Su. It was chosen as the Most Popular Taiwanese Film at the 6th Straits Film and Television Awards. Lin then starred in Go Lala Go 2 (2015), the sequel to the 2010 hit film Go Lala Go!. However unlike its predecessor, it was a critical and commercial flop.
Lin turned to the thriller genre in The Mysterious Family (2017), playing a rape victim who becomes psychologically scarred after the incident. The same year, she was cast in the television drama Old Boy alongside Liu Ye, marking her small-screen comeback after 4 years.
In 2018, Lin was cast in the historical drama I Will Never Let You Go as the protagonist.

## Personal life

Lin was born in Yilan, Taiwan to a middle-income family. She has a younger brother. Her parents separated when she was very young and divorced when she was in high school. (Lin helped reconcile them in 2014.) Lin was raised by her mother and lived in poverty for many years. She began taking care of the family in her second year of high school after her mother suffered a cerebellar stroke. At age 18, she entered a beauty competition because she wanted to win the prize money and buy her brother a new computer. She won first place. She was also accepted to National Chengchi University, a top university in Taiwan. She graduated with a BA in Korean literature while working as an actress part-time. When she filmed in China, several of her classmates copied notes for her.
Lin is severely myopic (-7.0D) and wears contact lenses. In June 2008, Lin was diagnosed with a 2 cm cyst on her pituitary gland, following which she had an operation in February 2009.
In 2013, she decided to take a break from her career. She went to United Kingdom and obtained a Master of Arts (MA) in Acting for Screen from the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama, University of London in 2014.
On 24 December 2014, Lin married businessman Charles Lin. The couple were introduced by mutual friends. On 29 September 2021, Lin announced her pregnancy hours after media broke the news. She gave birth to a girl on 18 October that year. She wrote a book during her pregnancy, which topped Books.com.tw's bestseller lists (both print and e-book) when it was published in January 2022.

## Filmography
### Film

| Year | English title | Original title | Role | Notes |
| 2003 | Kung Fu Girls | 空手道少女組 | Ye Lizhu/Juliet-Zhuliye | |
| 2004 | Love Me, If You Can | 飛躍情海 | Lin Xiaoying | |
| 2004 | Free As Love | 飛躍情海之浮生若夢 | Lin Xiaoying |
| 2005 | Herbie: Fully Loaded | — | Maggie Peyton | Taiwanese version, voice |
| 2011 | Memory Loss | 憶世界大冒險 | Hsiao-ta | Voice |
| 2011 | Love Sick | 戀愛恐慌症 | Liang Ruoqing | |
| 2014 | Sweet Alibis | 甜蜜殺機 | Gao Yiping | |
| 2015 | Another Woman | 234說愛你 | Jian Peiyan | |
| 2015 | Go Lala Go 2 | 追婚日記 | Du Lala | |
| 2016 | Love Is Frozen | 愛情凍住了 | Tseng Mei-bao | |
| 2016 | Trippin' in Taipei | 迷途台北 | Hye | Short filmAlso producer |
| 2017 | The Mysterious Family | 神秘家族 | Miao Miao | |
| 2017 | A Choo | 不倒俠 | Xinxin | |
| 2023 | Be With Me | 車頂上的玄天上帝 | Fu-yue | |

### Television series

| Year | English title | Original title | Role | Notes |
| 1990 | Fire Phoenix | 浴火鳳凰 | Mei Ji and Mei Yin Shuang when they turned into phoenixes burned | Stuntwoman |
| 2002 | True Love 18 | 18歲的約定 | Xia Xiaotong | |
| 2002 | Purple Corner | 紫色角落 | Stacy | Cameo |
| 2003 | Friends | 名揚四海 | Xiao Yanru (Little Yanru) | Cameo |
| 2003 | Secret Garden | 我的秘密花園 | Fan Xiaomin | |
| 2003 | Seventh Grade | 七年級生 | Wu Yali | |
| 2004 | Secret Garden II | 我的秘密花園 II | Fan Xiaomin | |
| 2004 | Love Contract | 愛情合約 | Cheng Xiaofeng/Xiaofeng | |
| 2005 | It Started with a Kiss | 惡作劇之吻 | Yuan Xiangqin | |
| 2006 | The Little Fairy/Fairy From Wonderland | 天外飛仙 | Seventh Fairy/Long Guangbiao/Yu Xiao Qi | |
| 2006 | Tokyo Juliet | 東方茱麗葉 | Lin Laisui/Stephanie Lin | |
| 2007 | They Kiss Again | 惡作劇2吻 | Yuan Xiangqin Huang Qiuju | |
| 2008 | The Legend of the Condor Heroes | 射鵰英雄傳 | Huang Rong | |
| 2008 | Love or Bread | 我的億萬麵包 | Zeng Shanmei | |
| 2011 | In Time with You | 我可能不會愛你 | Cheng Yu-ching | |
| 2013 | Prince of Lan Ling | 蘭陵王 | Yang Xuewu | |
| 2018 | Old Boy | 老男孩 | Lin Xiao'ou | |
| 2019 | I Will Never Let You Go | 小女花不棄 | Hua Buqi | |
| 2024 | Imperfect Us | 不夠善良的我們 | Chien Ching-fen |

## Theatre

| Year | English title | Original title |
| 2009–2010 | Man and Woman, War and Peace | 男人與女人之戰爭與和平 |

## Discography
### Studio albums

| Year | English title | Original title | Released date | Label |
| 2007 | Adventure of Lunia | 路尼亞戰記 | 19 November 2007 | |
| 2009 | Blissful Encounter | 幸福遇見 | 10 July 2009 | Avex Taiwan |
| 2010 | A Wonderful Journey | 美好的旅行 | 21 August 2010 | Avex Taiwan |

### Singles

| Year | English title | Original title | Notes |
| 2003 | Kung Fu Girls | 空手道少女組 | Kung Fu Girls original soundtrack |
| 2004 | Cha Cha | | My Secret Garden II original soundtrack |
| 2004 | Lonely Northern Hemisphere | 孤單北半球 | Love Contract ending theme song |
| 2005 | The Way Home | 歸途 | April Snow original soundtrack (Chinese version) |
| 2006 | It Had to Be You | 非你莫屬 | Tokyo Juliet ending theme song |
| 2007 | Angel Wings | 天使的翅膀 | The song dedicated to Beatrice Hsu |
| 2007 | You | 你 | They Kiss Again ending theme song |
| 2007 | Record of Lunia War | 路尼亞戰記主題曲 | Lunia: Record of Lunia War theme song |
| 2008 | If it is you | 如果是你 | Album 如果是你 of Alex, member of 艾力克斯 - Korea music group (Chinese version) |
| 2008 | The Taste of Bread | 麵包的滋味 | Love or Bread ending theme song |
| 2010 | Guardian Star | 守護星 | Prius Online theme song |
| 2011 | Wings | 翅膀 | In Time with You original soundtrack |

### Music video

* 2001:
** Believe - 相信 (May day - 五月天) 2001
** Lonely Flight - 寂寞飛行 (Maggie Chiang - 江美琪) 2001
** Nunchuks - 雙截棍 (Jay Chow 周杰倫) 2001
** Paper Flight - 紙飛機 (Sandy Lam - 林憶蓮) 2001
* 2002:
** MAKE A WISH (Vic Chou - 周渝民) 2002
** Love Guardian 鎮守愛情 (Power Staton - 動力火車) 2002
** Angel (David Tao - 陶吉吉) 2002
* 2003:
** Friends 名扬四海 - Rainbow (You Chiu-Hsing 尤秋興 of Power Station 動力火車) 2003
** She's having my baby (Tension) 2003
* 2004:
** Secret Garden II 我的秘密花園 II - 單純的臉孔 (Zhang Jian) 2004
** Cha Cha (Secret Garden II OST - 我的秘密花園 II 電視原聲帶) (Ariel Lin - 林依晨, Cheryl Yang - 楊謹華, Yolin Liang - 梁又琳, Michelle Lin - 林立雯, Marcus - 張天霖 và Daniel Lee - 李岳) 2004
** Love Contract 愛情合約原聲帶-孤單北半球 2004 (Ariel Lin - 林依晨) 2004
** Love Contract 愛情合約原聲帶-中間 (Fish Leong - 梁静茹) 2004
** Love Contract 愛情合約原聲帶 - Shinning (丸子) 2004
** Love Contract 愛情合約原聲帶 - 失去 (A-Yue 張震嶽) 2004
** Love Contract 愛情合約原聲帶 - 關於我們之間的事 (A-Yue 張震嶽) 2004
** Love Contract 愛情合約原聲帶 - 中間（鋼琴版）(潘協慶) 2004
** 孤單北半球 (Ariel Lin - 林依晨) 2004
** Waiting for You - 字幕歌词 (Asnon Hu - 胡彦斌) (Love Contract MV) 2004
** 白月光 (Jeff Chang - 张信哲) 2004 (Ariel Lin dub Korean for the girl in the MV)
* 2005:
** It Started with a Kiss 惡作劇之吻 - Say you love me (Jason & 温岚) 2005
** It Started with a Kiss 惡作劇之吻 - Meet 遇到 (方雅賢) 2005
** It Started with a Kiss 惡作劇之吻 - Come A Little Closer 靠近一點點 (梁心頤)
** It Started with a Kiss 惡作劇之吻 - Can We 能不能 (Jason Wang 王威登 & Lady Wen 溫嵐) 2005
** It Started with a Kiss 惡作劇之吻 - The Whole World Could Hear 全世界的人都知道 (王俞勻) 2005
** It Started with a Kiss 惡作劇之吻 - Regret 後悔 (何書宇) 2005
** It Started with a Kiss 惡作劇之吻 - 惡作劇 (王藍茵) 2005
** Born in A Troubled Time - 亂世浮生 (May day - 五月天) 2005
** 惡作劇 (王藍茵) 2005
* 2006:
** The Little Fairy 天外飛仙 - 一眼萬年 (S.H.E) 2006
** The Little Fairy 天外飛仙 - 千年淚 (Tank) 2006
** The Little Fairy 天外飛仙 - 天亮以後 (Hu Ge - 胡歌) 2006
** The Little Fairy 天外飛仙 - 古靈精怪 (吳艾倫 & 林靜) 2006
** The Little Fairy 天外飛仙 - 月光 (Hu Ge - 胡歌) 2006
** The Little Fairy 天外飛仙 - 棋只 2006
** Tokyo Juliet 東方茱麗葉 - 逆風 (花園精靈) 2006
** Tokyo Juliet 東方茱麗葉 - It Had To Be You 非你莫屬 (Ariel Lin - 林依晨) 2006
** Good friend - 好朋友 (Alan Luo - 羅志祥) 2006
* 2007:
** Angel Wings - 天使的翅膀 (published in Beatrice Hsu 2007 Light Concert by Xu Zhiwei - 许志玮, Ariel Lin - 林依晨, Joe Cheng - 郑元畅, Rainie Yang - 杨丞琳, Mike He - 贺军翔, Cyndi Wang - 王心凌, Phoebe Huang - 黄嘉千, Wallace Huo - 霍建华, David Chen - 陈宇凡, Penny Lin - 林韦君, Eli Shih - 施易男, Van Fan - 范逸臣, Cheryl Yang - 杨谨华, Victor Wong - 品冠, Alien Huang - 黃鴻升, Ben Pai - 白吉胜,... ) 2007
** Adventure of Lunia - 路尼亞戰記 (Ariel Lin - 林依晨) 2007
** They Kiss Again 惡作劇2吻 - 幸福合作社 (Mavis Fan - 范曉萱) 2007
** They Kiss Again 惡作劇2吻 - 你 (Ariel Lin - 林依晨) 2007
* 2008:
** Beating Heart 跳动的心 (Justin Lo - 側田) 2008
** Love or Bread 我的億萬麵包 - 歐兜水 (Huang Wen-hsing - 黃文星) 2008

### TV Commercial

* 2001:
** TrainAsia 2U PrePaidCard (2001)
** TrainAsia 2U PrePaidCard CDbox (2001)
** TrainAsia 2U PrePaidCard KTV (2001)
* 2003:
** Jcode CF Meetings (2003) (Ariel Lin and Dyla Kuo)
** Xin Gui Bai Strawberry Biscuit CF 1 (2003) (Ariel Lin and Bryant Chang)
** Jcode CF Restaurant (2003) (Ariel Lin and Dyla Kuo)
** Xin Gui Bai Strawberry Biscuit CF 2 (2003)(Ariel Lin and Bryant Chang)
** Jcode CF Ghost House (2003) (Ariel Lin and Dyla Kuo)
** Xin Gui Bai Strawberry Biscuit CF 2 (2003)
* 2004:
** Jcode CF Valentines (2/2004) (Ariel Lin and Dyla Kuo)
** Jcode CF Motorcycle (2004)
** Contact Lens Solution CF (2004)
* 2005:
** Jcode CF Reminder (2/2005) (Ariel Lin and Mike He)
** Jcode CF Love (8/2005) (Ariel Lin and Mike He)
** Heme CF Romeo Juliet (12/2005) (Ariel Lin and Vic Chou)
* 2006:
** Jcode CF Love (1/2006) (Ariel Lin and Mike He)
** Jcode CF Slow Dance (2/2006) (Ariel Lin and Mike He)
** Sofy CF Puzzle (4/2006)
** Heme CF Romeo Juliet (5/2006) (Ariel Lin and Vic Chou)
** Green Tea CF Shopping (5/2006)
** Sofy CF Sleep In (9/2006)
** Green Tea CF Field (10/2006)
** Heme Commercial (11/2006)
** Heme CF Red Dress (11/2006)
* 2007:
** Heme CF Whack a Mole (1/2007)
** 711 Snoopy CF 1 (1/2007)
** 711 Snoopy CF Search (1/2007)
** 711 Snoopy CF Camera 1 (2/2007)
** 711 Snoopy CF Camera 2 (2/2007)
** Sofy CF Good Night Rest (2/2007)
** Qqueen CF (5/2007)
** 711 Snoopy CF Baseball (7/2007)