Karena Lam

Karena Lam
Chinese name 林嘉欣
Chinese name 林嘉欣 (traditional)
Chinese name 林嘉欣 (simplified)
Ancestry Chaozhou, Guangdong
Origin Taiwan, Republic of China
Born 17 August 1978
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
Occupation actress, singer
Years active 1996 – present
Spouse(s) Steve Yuen (2010 - )
Children Kayla Yuen, born on 15 October 2010

Karena Lam (Chinese language: 林嘉欣; Cantonese: Làm Gāyān; pinyin: Lín Jiāxīn; born 17 August 1978) is a Hong Kong based award-winning actress and singer, born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

Personal life

Her father is from Hong Kong, while her mother a Japanese Chinese from Taiwan.[1]

Career

Karena was working at her Vancouver family restaurant when she was discovered by a talent scout from Taiwan in 1993, at age fifteen. The scout persuaded her to fly to Taiwan that Christmas, alone, for a singing audition in the hope of securing a professional contract. The audition was a success and she released two albums, her debut album in 1995 and her second album later in 1999. However both were met with modest success.

Her film debut in 2002 changed all this and propelled her to real stardom. Karena starred in three successful Hong Kong films in the same year, winning the awards of Best Supporting Actress and Best New Performer for her role in July Rhapsody directed by Ann Hui (at the 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards) and for Inner Senses by Lo Chi Leung (at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards), gaining her recognition as a talented young actress and marking the start of her film career.

In recent months she has been taking on much more challenging roles, as witnessed in the 2005 horror film Home Sweet Home, where she plays an insane and horribly deformed "phantom" monster who kidnaps a boy from his genetic mother to claim as its own, and was nominated for major awards again.

Filmography

Year Title Role Notes
2002 Tiramisu Jane Chan
Inner Senses Cheung Yan Nominated - Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
July Rhapsody Choy-Lam Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
Hong Kong Film Award for Best New Performer
Golden Horse Award for Best New Performer
Golden Horse Award for Best Supporting Actress
Golden Bauhinia Award for Best Supporting Actress
2003 Heroic Duo Brenda
Truth or Dare: 6th Floor Rear Flat Karena
The Floating Landscape Maan Nominated - Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
2004 Six Strong Guys
六壯士
Ding Ding
Super Model
我要做Model
Karena
Koma Suen Ling Nominated - Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
2005 Home Sweet Home Yim Hung Nominated - Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
Mob Sister Nova Nominated - Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress
It Had to Be You! Jill
2007 Anna & Anna
安娜與安娜
Anna/Siyu
Kidnap Lam Hiu-yeung
2006 Silk Wei
2008 Claustrophobia
親密
Pearl Ming Pao Anniversary Award for Outstanding Actress in Film
Nominated - Hong Kong Film Award for Best Actress
Nominated - Golden Horse Award for Best Actress
Candy Rain Ricky
Fit Lover Nie Bing
Happy Funeral
六樓后座2家屬謝禮
(cameo)
2010 Lover's Discourse Nominated - Ming Pao Anniversary Award for Outstanding Actress in Film
2010 Don Quixote
2015 Dragon Blade
Heaven in the Dark

[2] [3]

References

  1. A Conversation with Karena Lam By François (29/04/2003)
  2. "Karena Lam". imdb.com. Retrieved April 6, 2010.
  3. "Karena Lam". chinesemov.com. Retrieved April 6, 2010.

External links

Awards and achievements
Preceded by
Cheng Pei-pei
for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Hong Kong Film Awards for Best Supporting Actress
2002
for July Rhapsody
Succeeded by
Rene Liu
for Double Vision
Preceded by
Qin Hailu
for Durian Durian
Hong Kong Film Awards for Best New Performer
2002
for July Rhapsody
Succeeded by
Eugenia Yuan
for Three
Preceded by
Josie Ho
for Forever and Ever
Golden Bauhinia Awards for Best Supporting Actress
2003
for July Rhapsody
Succeeded by
Maggie Siu
for PTU