Ariel Lin
Ariel Lin Yi-chen (; 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 "". 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 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 England 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.