Childhood & Early Life
Ruby Lin Xinru was born on January 27, 1976, in Taipei, Taiwan as the eldest child of her parents. She has two younger brothers and one younger half-sister from the second marriage of her father.
She attended Ri Xin Primary School. Her businessman father and mother divorced when she was just seven following which she stayed with her mother.
Later, she graduated from Zhong Dian High School and was contemplating higher studies in the UK sans any plan for a showbiz career. However, things turned out differently that saw her getting into part-time modelling at age seventeen.
In 1994, she featured in a Jasmine Tea advertisement, which was her first TV commercial. Although her parents were initially reluctant to allow her to join the showbiz, a determined Ruby went on to feature in several other commercials and eventually developed an interest in acting.
After her parents agreed, Ruby joined the entertainment-management company ‘Jessie and Jones Entertainment on’ her twentieth birthday.
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Career
Her exposure through commercials brought her in the notice of several TV and film directors and companies. She made her acting debut with the 1995 film ‘School Days’ which was followed by many other minor roles in Taiwanese TV series.
Her breakthrough came with the 1998 television series ‘My Fair Princess’ that was a joint production by Hunan Broadcasting System of Mainland China and Yi Ren Communications Co. of Taiwan.
‘My Fair Princess’, which was first aired on China Television in Taiwan from April 28, 1998 to June 25, 1999, became a phenomenal hit in East Asia and Southeast Asia and is regarded as the most commercially thriving Chinese-language TV drama ever. Ruby who was originally selected for the role of Sai Ya finally landed up playing the main role of Xia Ziwei.
The huge popularity of ‘My Fair Princess’ in mainland China, South Korea, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia made her an overnight sensation and a household name.
Following this success, she went on to perform in several other TV series showcasing her versatility by portraying different roles including the hits like ‘The Duke of Mount Deer’ (2001) and ‘Romance in the Rain’ (2001). She also featured in three Hong Kong big-screen flicks namely ‘Winner Takes All’, ‘China Strike Force’ and ‘Comic King’ in 2000.
Ruby is a talented singer who came up with her first album ‘Heartbeat’ in 1999. It fetched her several awards. This was followed by five other albums namely ‘Double Faced Ruby Lin’ (2001), ‘Pala Pala’ (2001), ‘Eighteen Springs New and Best collection’ (2004), ‘Possessing Ruby Lin’ (2004) and ‘New Rubyology’ (2008).
Starting from 2002 she began concentrating on her career prospects in mainland China. This saw her starring in three successful TV series namely ‘Flying Daggers’, ‘Boy & Girl’ and ‘Half Life Fate’. All the three series which released in Asia in 2003 furthered her rising popularity earning her widespread fame and accolades.
With a career span of almost a decade encompassing an impressive and enviable body of work, Ruby, who never seemed to have given up on her dream of studying abroad after high school, resolved in winter 2004 to study acting and language in New York City, US. This led her to study performance at the New York Film Academy and English at Study Group International.
In the ensuing years, she honed her skills and expanded her range as an actress. She took up different challenging roles in various TV series that brought her kudos from critics, media and audiences, which further augmented her flourishing career. These included ‘Paris Sonata’ (2006), ‘The Legend and the Hero 2’ (2009), ‘Da Li Princess’ (2009) and ‘Beauty's Rival in Palace’ (2010) among others.
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In late 2006 she broke her 10 year-long association with management company Zhong Jie. She then signed with Huayi Brothers Film and Television group, the biggest Chinese management and domestic movie-making company, on November 30, 2006 reportedly for $10 million.
She forayed on-stage with the play, ‘Sweet Sweet Love’ in 2010. The play had a successful run for three months starting from May 7 of that year. Although it was scheduled to perform in Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Hangzhou, its increasing popularity took it to Nanchang as well.
She began her journey as a producer with the 2011 Chinese historical fiction romance television series ‘The Glamorous Imperial Concubine’. It was the debut production of her own production company Ruby Lin Studio that she established in 2009.
She played one of the main characters of Ma Fuya in ‘The Glamorous Imperial Concubine’. The series garnered excellent ratings and fetched her Best Producer award at the China TV Drama Awards and Best Producer and Best Actress awards at the YOUKU Entertainment Award in 2011.
Till present she has produced and acted in several TV productions. These include films like ‘Forgotten’ (2012) and ‘Mother Mother’ (2014); and series ‘Drama Go! Go! Go!’ (2012), ‘The Way We Were’ (2014) and ‘Singing All Along’ (2016).
‘The Way We Were’ marked her comeback to Taiwan TV following a gap of ten years. This extremely popular series remained among the top two dramas in the list of most popular dramas on iQiyi. It fetched Best Television Series award at the 50th Golden Bell Awards in 2015 apart from earning Ruby several other awards and accolades.
Her widespread popularity saw her getting into several endorsement contracts. Over the years she has remained spokesperson of several brands including Coca-Cola (2000), ESPRIT (2001), Pantene (2003–2006), VOV Cosmetics (since 2006), China Mobile (since 2007), Japanese company Glico, Oriks (since 2011), and Shiseido Elixir (2017).
