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Top 10 Amazing Facts about Ruby Lin

Lin was born and raised in Taipei, Taiwan, the eldest of four children, having one brother a year younger than the other, six years younger, and a half-sister, ten years younger, from her father’s second marriage.

Her father was a businessman, and her mother a housewife. Her English name is from her mother’s love of the jewel.

After her parents’ divorce, when Lin was seven years old, she lived with her mother, who took her to visit relatives in Japan every year. She graduated from Ri Xin Primary School and Zhong Dian High School. 

Lin originally planned on going to the United Kingdom to study after high school graduation but she didn’t, never considering the prospect of an acting career. However, she began her acting career at age seventeen as a part-time model.

Her first TV commercial was for Jasmine Tea in 1994.

Lin’s parents did not like the idea of their daughter being involved in the entertainment industry, but she decided to pursue an acting career.

After appearing in many commercials, her parents finally agreed to allow her to sign a contract with an entertainment-management company.

Following high school graduation, Lin joined Jessie and Jones Entertainment Ltd on her 20th birthday. Over the years, she has also helped her parents to reconcile.

1. First Experience in Front of a Camera

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When Lin received her first experience in front of the camera in 1995, for a minor role, she started to develop a passion for acting. After filming her first TV commercial, Lin caught the attention of TV and film directors, and many companies began seeking her for roles.

2. Her First Role in the Film

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She received her first role in the film School Days, with Jimmy Lin and Takeshi Kaneshiro. From 1995 to 1997, Lin had roles in several Taiwanese TV series and began to attract attention and buzz from the media.

In 1996, Lin went to China for the first time to film; she considered this a period of valuable experience and a time that she began to learn about acting.

3. Successful Television Series

After My Fair Princess, Lin starred in a number of successful television series. In 2000 she starred in Hong Kong TVB’s production of The Duke of Mount Deer with Dicky Cheung, Shu Qi, and other well-known artists. In this series, Lin played Princess Jian Ning – a sassy, funny girl.

This role demonstrated her acting range since it differed from the nice, sweet image she had developed from her role in My Fair Princess.

The following year, she starred in Romance in the Rain, a costume drama based in the 1930s and 1940s, also written by Chiung Yao. The series was a commercial success and recorded the highest ratings of the year.

For two consecutive years (2000 and 2001), Lin was included in the Top Ten Most Famous Asian Superstars. The same year, she was selected in fourth place in “Malaysia 2001 Heavenly Kings & Queens”.

4. Film Ventures

As Lin felt she had achieved all she could in television, she started venturing into films. In 2000, she appeared in three Hong Kong films, namely Winner Takes All, Comic King, and the action movie China Strike Force with Aaron Kwok and Taiwanese actor-singer Leehom Wang.

Although Lin had only a supporting role, she considered it a learning experience. With these films, she made inroads into the Hong Kong market.

5. Collaborations

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Lin sparked a trend toward China-Korea collaborations when she starred in the 2004 production Amor de Tarapaca (co-starring Korean actor Han Jae Suk).

Lin was involved in another original Korean screenplay Magic Touch of Fate, co-starring Taiwanese actor Alec Su and Korean idol Kangta. This series is the highest-budgeted miniseries in Asian television history (as of 2011).

By this time, Lin had been in show business for almost a decade, with nearly non-stop filming. She wanted to go back to school; since high school, studying abroad had been her dream.

6. She Studied English

In the winter of 2004, after filming Magic Touch of Fate, Lin decided to study language and acting for three months in New York City. While she was there, Lin studied English at Study Group International and performance at the New York Film Academy.

7. Return to Taiwan

Returning home to Taiwan with a new passion for acting in February 2005, Lin starred in Â鶹APP Sonata. For her role in Â鶹APP Sonata, she learned to play piano two months before filming.

After Â鶹APP Sonata, she selected the TV drama Sound of Colors (a remake of Jimmy Liao’s book) as her next work, portraying a blind radio DJ. Lin’s performance as a blind girl received good reviews from audiences and the news media.

This drama was broadcast in many countries, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, and the United States. This was followed by the dramas Star Boulevard and Da Li Princess, which were expected to be released in 2008 by CCTV.

8. Expanding her Acting 

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In 2006, Lin’s starred in the television series Ancestral Temple where she further expanded her acting range. After three months of filming in Huang Shan, China, the series was completed at the end of October 2006.

Its broadcast by CCTV-1 was planned for 2008. On June 6, 2006, Lin won the Most Popular Actress in Taiwan award at the 2nd Chinese TV Drama Award ceremony in Beijing. She has also been regularly featured in polls as one of the Top 10 contemporary Chinese actors.

9. Farewell to Zhong Jie

At the end of 2006, Lin bid farewell to her management company Zhong Jie, after a 10-year relationship, and on November 30, 2006, ceremoniously signed with Huayi Brothers Film and Television group for a reported $10 million. 

Hua Yi Bros. is (as of 2011) the largest management and domestic movie-making company in China. In September 2007, she guest-starred in CCTV’s historical drama Su DongPo.

In this series, she played the first wife of Su Dongpo (writer, poet, artist, calligrapher, pharmacologist, and statesman of the Song Dynasty, one of the major poets of the time), played by Lu Yi.

10. Expanded Her Challenge

After filming the digital film Evening of Roses, Lin took on more challenging roles. In late 2007, she co-starred as Daji with Ray Lui in The Legend and Hero 2 also known as Fengshen Bang.

One of the major vernacular Chinese novels written during the Ming Dynasty. After speculation over who would receive the leading role of Daji who was known for her beauty and cruelty which ruined a dynasty, the role was offered to Lin.

When Lin committed to playing Daji, she could not escape comparison with Fan Bingbing, who played the same role in the first part of the series.

Lin’s performance received generally positive comments from the media. NetandTV commented, In comparison to the previous version, the bright spot in this new version’s Daji gets a new makeover. Ruby Lin’s look gave Daji a brand-new definition.

Lin has often said “comparing with other people is meaningless, I just want a breakthrough from past looks, to surpass myself.”