Xiang Yun

Not to be confused with Dai Xiangyu. This is a Chinese name; the family name is Chen.

Chen Cuichang (born 27 October 1961), better known by her Chinese stage name Xiang Yun, is a Singaporean actress and contracted artiste under MediaCorp.^[1] She is popularly referred to as MediaCorp's first "Ah Jie" (elder sister) as she was among the first locally-trained artistes and has been in the industry for over 25 years.

Career

Chen is one of the first batch of graduates from SBC's drama training class. She began her career in children's drama in 1980 and proceeded to act in the drama series Double Blessings and All That Glitters Is Not Gold in 1983. It was her role as "Ah Mei", love interest of Huang Wenyong's character "Ah Shui", in the 1984 blockbuster drama series The Awakening that propelled her to fame, evidenced by the fact that she and Huang were named among the "top 5 favourite on-screen partners" and "top 5 most memorable drama roles" of the last 25 years at the Star Awards 2007 anniversary special. In 1997, she played the role of Singaporean war heroine Elizabeth Choy in the war drama The Price of Peace. After the birth of her second child, she took a brief hiatus from acting.^[2] She has often been cast in major roles in many of MediaCorp's large-scale productions, such as Double Happiness, Portrait of Home, The Little Nyonya and Kinship.

Despite competition from younger actresses, Chen's popularity remained high as she was voted the "Top 10 Most Popular Artistes" in the annual Star Awards from 2000 to 2010 and was awarded the coveted "All-Time Favourite Artiste Award".^[3] She has also won the "Best Supporting Actress" award in 1998, 2000, 2001 and 2009. She was also awarded the "Evergreen Veteran" award in 2007. She was nominated for the "Best Actress" award in Star Awards 2004 for her role in Double Happiness.

Chen was the spokesperson for BodyPerfect, a slimming center that has helped several female celebrities regain svelte figures in recent years.

Other works

Apart from television works, Chen also performed on stage in December Rains in 1996, Butterflies Are Free in 2001, and Peranakan Ball in 2009. She made her cinema debut in Jack Neo's I Not Stupid (2001), Homerun and I Not Stupid Too.

Personal life

Chen is married to former MediaCorp actor Edmund Chen. They first met on the set of Patrol and married after a whirlwind romance, which drew much media attention as unpublicised celebrity marriages were uncommon in the local entertainment industry at that time.^[2][4] They have a son, Yixi and daughter, Yixin.^[5][6]

Awards/Achievements

References

External links

• Profile on xinmsn