Brigitte Lin facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Brigitte Lin
林青霞
Lin in 2018
Born	Brigette Lin Ching-hsia (1954-11-03) 3 November 1954 (age 70) Sanchong, Taipei County, Republic of China
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1973–1994
Spouse(s)	Michael Ying ​ (m. 1994)​
Children	2
Chinese name
Chinese	林青霞
Transcriptions Standard Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Lín Qīngxiá Yue: Cantonese Jyutping lam4 cing1 haa4

Brigitte Lin Ching-hsia (Chinese: 林青霞; pinyin: Lín Qīngxiá; born 3 November 1954) is a famous actress from Taiwan. She is known as a screen icon, meaning she was a very important and popular figure in movies. In the 1970s, Brigitte Lin helped make movies in Taiwan very popular by playing romantic heroines. Later, she moved to Hong Kong and became even more successful. There, she often played characters that looked like both a boy and a girl in wuxia (martial arts) films. After getting married in 1994, she stopped acting. In the 2000s, she started writing and has published four books of essays. In 2023, she received a special award for her lifetime of work at the 60th Golden Horse Awards.

Her Early Life and Career

Brigitte Lin was born in Chiayi, Taiwan. Her parents were from eastern Shandong and had moved to Taiwan in 1949. In 1972, after finishing high school and getting ready for university, a film producer discovered her on the streets of Taipei.

Lin's first movie was Outside the Window (1973). This film quickly made her a star. She became part of a famous group known as the "Two Chins, Two Lins." This group included Brigitte Lin, Joan Lin, Charlie Chin, and Chin Han. They were famous for starring in many romantic movies in the 1970s. These films were often based on novels by Chiung Yao and were very popular in Taiwan. In 1976, Brigitte Lin joined Chiung Yao's movie company.

Between 1972 and 1979, Lin appeared in 55 movies. In all these films, she played romantic heroines in love stories. Many of these stories were from Chiung Yao's books. Lin won the Best Actress award at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival for her role as a girl scout in Eight Hundred Heroes (1976). In 1979, she took a break and went to the U.S. for about a year and a half to study and relax.

Becoming a Hong Kong Film Star

Brigitte Lin started working with famous Hong Kong directors like Ringo Lam, Tsui Hark, and Jackie Chan. She appeared in movies such as Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain (1983), The Other Side of Gentleman (1984), Police Story (1985), and Peking Opera Blues (1986). These films helped her become a major star in Hong Kong. In 1990, she won the Best Actress award at the 27th Golden Horse Awards for her role in Red Dust (1990). In this movie, she played a Chinese writer who fell in love with a Japanese person.

Lin became especially famous for playing characters that looked like both a boy and a girl. This style of acting is common in Chinese operas and movies. One of her first such roles was Jia Baoyu, the main male character in the 1977 film Dream of the Red Chamber. In Peking Opera Blues (1986), she played a revolutionary woman who dressed as a man. In Royal Tramp II (1992), she was the leader of a group called the Heavenly Dragon Sect, a woman who also dressed like a man. In Ashes of Time (1994), she played twin brother and sister characters, Yin and Yang.

However, she is probably most famous for her role as Dongfang Bubai in Swordsman II (1992). This movie was a huge success and marked the peak of her career. Time magazine even listed her performance in Swordsman II as one of the 10 greatest performances in cinema history. The success of this film led her to star in other popular martial arts movies, such as New Dragon Gate Inn (1992) and The Bride with White Hair (1993). She stopped acting after Ashes of Time (1994). In 2015, she made a small return to television by joining the reality show Up Idol on Hunan TV.

Personal Life

In the 1970s, Brigitte Lin dated both Chin Han and Charlie Chin, who were also part of the "Two Chins, Two Lins" group.

In 1994, Lin married Hong Kong businessman Michael Ying. She has two daughters, Eileen Ying Oi Lum (born 1996) and Melani Ying Yin-oi (born 2001). She is also a stepmother to Claudine Ying.

Filmography

Film

Television

Awards and Recognition

Brigitte Lin's hand print and autograph at the Avenue of Stars in Hong Kong.

Brigitte Lin has won many awards for her acting. Here are some of her notable achievements:

Books by Brigitte Lin

After retiring from acting, Brigitte Lin became a writer. She has published several books of essays:

• The Last Star of the East: Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia and Her Films (2005)
• 窗裏窗外 Inside and Outside the Window (2011)
• 雲去雲來 Cloud Goes, Cloud Comes (2014)

See also

In Spanish: Brigitte Lin para niños