chen adalah marga dari orang tua.
wai adalah nama yang diturunkan orang tua untuk kelly dan kakak perempuannya.
lum diberikan oleh seorang peramal karena nama aslinya (chen wai 'man') kurang unsur kayu.
walaupun kelly bukan orang yang percaya hal mistis, kelly yang mempunyai tinggi 173 cm ini, tetap menggunakannya karena tidak ingin mengecewakan orang di sekitarnya.
terlahir sebagai anak ke 2 dari 3 bersaudara, anak perempuan ke-2, kelly bersekolah dasar di hong kong. sekolah menengah diteruskan ke akadame kanada kobe di jepang.
sekolah ke jepang adalah keinginan ayahnya agar kelly menguasai bahasa jepang, walaupun hal ini saat itu membuatnya kecewa.
selama di jepang, kelly mengalami masa-masa sulit beradaptasi di mana dia tinggal di hostel perempuan.
guru kesenian-nyalah yang pertama kali menemukan bakat kelly di bidang seni.
karena usaha dari guru kesenian tersebut, kelly meraih penghargaan seni yang hanya diberikan kepada 1 orang murid setiap tahunnya.
guru inilah yang mendukung kelly untuk meneruskan kuliah saat umur 17 tahun ke amerika serikat, dan karenanya kelly harus meninggalkan cinta pertamanya yang baru terjalin beberapa bulan sebelumnya.
sekolah di amerika serikat adalah apa yang diimpikannya.
kelly menyukai new york setelah menonton "an autumn's tale", sebuah film yang mengambarkan amerika secara menarik.
ada rasa takut ketika meminta persetujuan orang tua untuk meneruskan ke sekolah kesenian.
tetapi rasa takut itu pupus setelah orang tuanya menyetujui.
amerika berbeda dengan jepang, di mana kelly tidak begitu merasa di-diskriminasi.
selama kuliah di parsons school of design di kota new york mendalami desain grafis, kelly yang hobi membaca sejak kecil menyukai novel "love story in the city".
tetapi hal ini berubah karena kelly ingin membuat dirinya gembira.
untuk itu kelly mulai menyukai komik.
semasa libur musim panas, kelly pulang ke hong kong mencari pekerjaan untuk mengisi liburan.
kebetulan, teman mama-nya mempunyai rumah produksi.
karena tidak ada lowongan di sana, kelly diminta casting dan kelly terpilih untuk ikut dalam video rekaman lagu jacky cheung.
inilah awal perkenalan kelly dengan dunia hiburan.
sebulan kemudian, kelly mendapat kesempatan syuting iklan di shanghai, sebuah kota favoritnya di samping kota new york.
film pertama penggemar warna merah dan merah muda ini adalah "whatever will be will be" bersama aaron kwok. walaupun diliputi rasa cemas akan ketidakmampuannya untuk berperan dengan baik, akhirnya film pertamanya dapat terselesaikan dengan baik.
film berikutnya "lost and found", kelly berperan sebagai seorang gadis pengidap leukimia yang sedang menanti hari-hari terakhir.
film ini menyentuh hati kelly dan mendorong kelly untuk senantiasa menghargai hidup dan tidak melukai diri sendiri.
karena itulah kelly tidak menyukai olahraga yang berbahaya bagi diri sendiri seperti ski.
selain berakting, kelly yang suka makan mi instan ini juga suka menyanyi.
lagu kesukaannya adalah "it's non of your business" dan "as for who wishes to release".
setelah album "after charming lover", kelly membuat album mandarin pertamanya "i don't think so". album ini terdiri dari 11 lagu dan hanya lagu "i had rather not remember" yang berbahasa kanton.
semua usaha yang dilakukannya di asia membawanya ke dapur rekaman lagu jepang di bulan juni tahun yang sama.
perusahaan rekaman menilai "charming lover" adalah lagu yang bagus dan ingin menerjemahkannya ke bahasa jepang.
walaupun sudah 4-5 tahun tidak berbicara dalam bahasa jepang, kelly merasa mengembalikan kemampuan berbahasa jepangnya tidaklah begitu sulit.
dalam kehidupan, kelly yang menguasai bahasa kanton, inggris, mandarin, dan jepang ini mengharapkan semuanya berjalan lancar dan kemampuan akan bertambah sesuai kematangan.
sangat banyak penghargaan yang telah diraihnya selama berkarier dari tahun 1995 sampai sekarang.
penghargaan prestisius terakhir digapainya adalah: "2005 tvb8 mod music awards presentation" sebagai "mainland chinas most popular female singer", "worlds most popular cantonese song award: hope" dan "mandarin song award: hope", serta "2005 tvb jade solid gold awards presentation" untuk "top ten gold songs award: hope rd", "asia pacific most popular female singer award", dan "most popular ad song silver award: perfect relations"
beberapa album musik terakhir yang sangat populer diantaranya: "eternal sunshine", "kelly stylish index" dan "grace and charm".
pada tahun 2008 ini di bulam maret kelly chen akan merilis film terbarunya "an empress and the warriors" kemudian juga menggelar konser pada bulan juni awal, yang dirumorkan sebagai konser terakhir dari kelly chen.
pada tahun 1997, kelly telah mengadakan konsert pertamanya starry dream of love (xing meng qing zhen) dan melancarkan cdnya pada bulan jun. pada bulan julai, kelly tampil dengan sebuah lagi album single jepang morning yang menjadi hit seterusnya.
kelly juga memainkan suara untuk peranan madame trunk dalam film a chinese ghost story.
dalam tempoh lima bulan kelly telah menlancarkan empat buah album masing-masing ialah album mandarin keduannya insight (ti hui), penyusunan semula lagu kellys best collection 97, cd rakaman langsung starring dream of love live in concert, dan album contonesenya a movie (yi chu xi), kelly berjaya menaikkan namanya sebagai penyanyi dan pelakon terkenal.
pada tahun 1998, kelly memulakan konsert bergerak bermula dari australia.
selain daripada konsert bergerak, kelly juga mengadakan 10 konsert untuk sepuluh buah sekolah di taiwan.
pada september tahun 1998, kelly tampil dengan muzik video pertamanya love me or not di taiwan yang kemudiannya mendapat siaran meluas di seluruh siaran televisiyen di dunia.
peminat kelly melonjak naik apabila kelly muncul sebagai pelakon utama dalam drama televisyen dont be a cry baby dengan gandingan bersama pelakon jepang kyoko fukada disamping mengadakan dua konsert di fukuoka, jepang pada tahun 1999.
selepas menlancarkan dua buah album remix kelly bpm collection pada bulan mac tahun 2001, kelly memulakan sebuah lagi konsert bergerak paisley galaxy world tour, yang bermula di singapura.
pada bulan mei, kelly tiba di amerika utara dan mengadakan konsertnya di chicago, atlantic city, los angeles dan toronto yang merupakan sebahagian daripada konsert bergeraknya.
kelly kemudiannya kembali ke china untuk mengadakan persembahannya di guangzhou, huizhou dan zhongshan.
pada tahun 2005, lagunya yang berjudul hope dari drama siri tv korean dae jang geum menaikkan lagi nama kelly ke industry contopop apabila lagu terbabit mendapat sambutan yang mengalakkan dari hong kong dan china.
lagu itu sekaligus telah menambahkan lagi pendapatannya.
kelly berjaya meraih tiga anugerah dalam tvb 8 awards presentation bagi lagu hope iaitu anugerah lagu terbaik, lagu cantonese paling popular dunia dan penyanyi perempuan kesukaan di china.
hope juga merupakan lagu popular bagi 20 stesen radio di china serta juga berjaya mencatat rekord tinggi muat turun nada ring.
sebulan selepas perlancaran, muat turun telah mencatat jumlah sebanyak 3 juta kali dan sehingga hari ini ia dianggarkan mencecah 6 juta kali.
ini telah membantu syarikat rakamannya memperolehi pendapatan $5 juta selepas penolakkan segala belanja.
pengarah urusan universal music groups telah menghubungi kelly berhubung berita baik itu.
kelly turut berjanji untuk membahagikan pendapatannya kepada kakitangan sekirannya muat turun lagu itu boleh melebihi 10 juta.
kelly juga mengakhiri konsert bergeraknya, lost in paradise pada tahun 2005 di asia dan tahun 2006 di united states.
lost in paradise berakhir dalam tempoh tiga jam merangkumi 35 buah lagu kelly sepanjang 10 tahun dalam dunia arena muziknya.
antara lagu hit termasuk phone kill order, shake shake dan care about you too much vanness wu merupakan tetamu undangannya bagi konsert di las vegas.
besides her singing and acting career, kelly have also played a part in representing hong kong on a number of occasions.
in 1998, kelly was appointed as not only a hong kong goodwill ambassador, but as the hong kong ambassador of environment to promote environmental protection.
as an ambassador of the hong kong red cross, she promoted the donation of blood banks and an ambassador for the independent commission against corruption (icac) kellychen stareastnet.
she was appointed by unicef as the honorable china children's health ambassador.
kelly was later appointed by the hong kong girl guides association as "girl guides millennium goodwill ambassador", which led her to visit inner mongolia to investigate the way young children were living and the health and food services they were receiving.
in 2001, kelly added yet another title to her growing list as the volunteer ambassador 2001 as appointed by the social welfare department.
she was later appointed by unicef a second time as the ambassador of the hong kong committee for unicef.
in april 2002, she was appointed by the "standing committee on language education and research" (scolar) as the "ambassador of the workplace english campaign" to encourage the working people to keep studying the english language as kelly herself had done.
after years of serving other funds, kelly finally started her own fund to help children called the "kelly chen children education fund" to raise money to help needy children.
besides performing her dynacarnival concert in hong kong, kelly traveled to sydney and melbourne, australia to perform her concert there.
kelly was soon appointed by the hong kong correctional services department as the "ambassador of the rehabilitation".
kelly was also awarded with two honors: first, she was chosen as one of hong kong's ten outstanding young persons 2002 kellychen stareastnet.
that same year, she was invited to represent hong kong to attend the abu prizes  presentation &
special concert in the nhk hall in tokyo.
she also received the 13th annual best dressed award in japan, becoming the first foreigner to ever receive the award.
she was later invited by the office of the privacy commissioner for personal data and hksar government health department to film the publicity campaigns for promoting the respect of personal privacy and organ donation throughout china and hong kong.
march 2003 brought even more titles kelly's way: she was appointed the philatelic ambassador by the hong kong post, as well as "the love and peace ambassador" by city junior chamber.
kelly soon took her "dynacarnival" to north america by performing in atlantic city, toronto and san francisco.
she also began to release dsd versions of her earlier albums, including "dedicated lover".
she was later appointed as star of "hong kong outstanding students award" by lion &
globe educational trust, furthering her push for better education.
in june of 2003, kelly's wax figure for the madam tussaud wax museum was ready and was put on display.
she was later invited to be the "love ambassador" of "world children's day at mcdonald's 2003" by mcdonald's restaurants in hong kong. she was also appointed as the "pass-it-on" ambassador by the hong kong red cross, and attend its christmas campaign to visit the john. f. kennedy center.
kelly's charitable work continued into 2004 as she was appointed as the star representative to attend the "5th hk outstanding teenagers" election press conference held by hong kong playground association and rthk. in february, kelly was appointed as both "road safety vision ambassador" by the road safety council to promote road safety, and as the "reading ambassador" by the boys' and girls' clubs association of hong kong. may 2004 brought the title of "hospital play ambassador" to kelly, as well as the title of "japanese promotional ambassador" by the japan society of hk, consulate general of japan and rthk to encourage hong kong citizens to learn japanese.
kelly received another award when she was named "the outstanding young persons of the world" jci.cc in 2004 by the junior chamber international, becoming the first hong kong celebrity to be honored with the award.
in 2007, kelly was appointed as hong kong "innovative entrepreneur ambassdor" () and had sung the theme song "innovation" () for the "innovative entrepreneur of the year 2007" (2007) organised by city junior chamber, hong kong kelly shown in innovation entrepreneur website .
kelly's responsibility is to promote the awareness of entrepreneurship to youngsters and to attend the various promotion events organised.
in a survey conducted in early 2002 by the city university of hong kong, kelly was named the "the most popular idol" among youth groups kellychen stareastnet.
her film debut was in 1995, in whatever will be, will be (, xian yue piao piao, literally heavenly music floating in the air).
kelly chan has since starred and made cameos in quite a number of films.
her filmography includes:
whatever will be, will be (, 1995)
lost and found (, 1996)
anna magdalena (, 1998)
hot war (, 1998)
metade fumaca (, 1999) - cameo
tokyo raiders (, 2000)
and i hate you so (, 2000)
lavender (, 2000)
calmi couri appassionati (, 2001)
merry go round (, 2001) - cameo
infernal affairs (, 2002)
infernal affairs iii ( iii, 2003)
breaking news (, 2004)
super model (model, 2004) - cameo
mcdull, the alumni (, 2006) - ol
it's a wonderful life (, 2007)
an empress and the warriors (, 2008)
72 tenants of prosperity (72, 2010)
album kelly chen
hong kong cantonese
intoxicated lover  (dec. 1995)
wind, flower, snow  (oct. 1996)
starry dreams of love  (june 1997)
a movie  (dec. 1997)
da de dum (i am falling out of love) da de dum()(july 1998)
true feeling  (feb. 1999)
don't stop loving me  (aug. 1999)
paisley galaxy  (may 2000)
the big day  (nov. 2000)
in the party (july 2001)
ask (19 december 2001)
ask kelly (1 february 2002)
dynacarnival  (12 july 2002)
baby cat (13 december 2002)
love  (22 august 2003)
stylish index (23 july 2004)
grace and charm (22 december 2004)
happy girl (25 august 2006)
kellylicious (16 may 2008)
reflection (7 february 2013)
and then (15 january 2016)
i don't think so  (may 1996)
insight  (aug. 1997)
you're not the same  (mar. 1998)
love me or not  (dec 1998)
love you so much  (apr 2000)
flying  (aug. 2001)
love appeared  (10 may 2002)
you don't mean it  (1 august 2003)
eternal sunshine  (16 september 2005)
chasing dreams  (16 march 2010)
grace (29 january 2002)
the beginning is a cunning morning
kelly game  little kelly  (26 march 2002)
hong kong cantonese
kelly chen bpm dance collection (mar. 2001)
kelly chen bpm dance collection volume 4 (dec. 2001)
greatest hits albums
hong kong cantonese
true love special edition  (1996)
who wants to let go 17 greatest hits  (dec. 1996)
lover's concerto (apr. 1998)
kelly chen collection 95-00 (june 2000)
colors of love  new + best collection  (dec. 1999)
beloved  (sept. 2002)
red  red (19 december 2003)
especial kelly (21 december 2006)
kelly's greatest hits  (may 1999)
colorful  (nov. 2002)
kelly's best collection 1997 (1997)
best of kelly chen (1998)
open up the sky  (sept. 1995)
hong kong cantonese
who wants to let go 17 greatest hits  (dec. 1996) (vcd/ld)
faye and kelly party  (feb. 1997) (vcd/ld/dvd)
i care about you so muchmusic videos karaoke ok(may.1999)(vcd)
unprecedentednessmusic videos karaoke ok (dec. 2004)(vcd/dvd)
insight  (aug. 1997) (vhs)
defenseless heart  (1998) (vcd)
the best of kelly chen music video vol.1 1(1999) (dvd)
love you so much  (mar. 2000) (vcd)
flying  (jan. 2002) (vcd)
love appeared  (mar. 2003)(vcd)
starry dreams of love live in concert  (aug. 1997)
kelly chen music is live in concert  (mar. 1998)
kelly chen paisley galaxy live in concert  (sept. 2000)
go east 5th anniversary in concert  (oct. 2000)
music is live concert  (nov. 2001)
kelly dynacarnival 2002 concert  (oct. 2002)
lost in paradise 2005 concert live 2005 (9 december 2005)
kelly x jorden music is live concert  x   (23 october 2006)
kelly chen love fighters concert 2008 love fighters2008 (1318 june 2008)
whatever will be, will be  (aug. 1995)
mulan  (1998)
humdrum puppy love oo (nov. 2000)
lavender original movie soundtrack  (dec. 2001)
1997 :star dreams come true concert and world tour
2000 :paisley galaxy concert and world tour
2002 :dynacarnival concert and world tour
2004 :lost in paradise concert and world tour
2008 :love fighters concert
(distributed in singapore and malaysia)
kelly chen bpm dance collection
(high energy mix)
(duet w/andy hui)
(duet w/mark lui)
you're the one
(w/daniel chan/ray chan/joyce)
(duet w/mark lui)
bpm kelly chen dance collection volume 4
special edition
(running fast mix)
(you gave it to me)
kelly's best collection
(you gave it to me)
you're the one
best of kelly chen
(you gave it to me)
say you love me
da de dum()
kelly chen collection 95-00
you're the one
(you gave it to me)
you're the one
say you love me
(you gave it to me)
da de dum()
you're the one
take my hand
all over again(ronan keating)