Who is Edison Chen? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

Also Known As: Edison Chen Koon-hei

Age: 42 Years, 42 Year Old Males

Family:

father: Chen Zemin

siblings: Tricia Chan

Born Country: Canada

Actors Rappers

Height: 5'10" (178 cm), 5'10" Males

Notable Alumni: R.C. Palmer Secondary School, Hong Kong International School

Ancestry: Portuguese Canadian, Hong Kong Canadian, Chinese Canadian

City: Vancouver, Canada

More Facts

education: R.C. Palmer Secondary School, Hong Kong International School

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Childhood & Early Life

Edison Chen was born on October 7, 1980, in Vancouver, Canada, into an affluent family. His father is Edward Chen, a high profile Hong Kong entertainment industry businessman. Born with a silver spoon, Edison had all the luxuries and a great lifestyle right from his childhood. His parents divorced early, which made his childhood somewhat lonely.

Always interested in the entertainment industry, Edison wanted to pursue music since his early days. A fan of American hip-hop music, he wanted a musical career on the same lines. Growing up with his 2 sisters, he spent his childhood hopping frequently between Canada and Hong Kong.

He studied at Hong Kong International School and some other high profile schools in Canada. During his school days he was a basketball freak and dreamed of being an NBA star someday.

Although English was always his first language, his father ensured that he learnt Cantonese and Mandarin as he expected his son to make a career in the Hong Kong entertainment industry.

After his high school, Edison decided to take a break before embarking on his dream career. Around this time, he was scouted by a talent manager in a night club. This was really a big thing for Chen considering the fact that the talent scout didn’t know about his father.

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Career

The talent agent offered him a chance to feature in a commercial for Citibank, which Chen accepted and this became his on-screen debut. The advertisement became popular and riding on its popularity, Chen started his musical and acting career.

Thereafter, Chen signed a music deal with the 'Emperor Entertainment Group' and released several music albums. In November 2000, Chen released his self-titled album and its success encouraged him to churn out several back-to-back albums, such as ‘Fast and Furious,’ ‘Visual Diary,’ and ‘Ed is On’ among many others.

Chen kicked off his acting career in 2000 with the Japanese film ‘Dead or Alive 2: Birds.' This highly stylized action thriller film was directed by the famous director Takashi Miike, and became a success.

Edison started appearing in leading roles just with his second film ‘Gen Y Cops.' This science fiction film was widely loved by the audience and became one of the highest grossing films of the year. The audience loved his rough looks and the ‘cool boy’ attitude in his early roles.

Edison made a mark in the entertainment industry in a short time, and starred in some highly successful Hong Kong films, such as the two installments of ‘Infernal Affairs,’ ‘Dance of a Dream,’ ‘Initial D,’ and ‘Dog Bites Dog.’ This overwhelming success got him some film awards as well.

In the mid 2000s, he starred in the Japanese drama ‘Under the Same Moon’ and became a household name in Japan. He began his Hollywood ambition with the 2006 film ‘Grudge 2.' he appeared as a Hong Kong journalist and his role was highly appreciated.

In 2008, he played a cameo (a Hong Kong gangster) in the American superhero film ‘The Dark Knight.' He was originally slated to play the role of Lau, an important character in the film, but the filmmakers changed their mind due to his involvement in several controversies. Since Edison wanted to become a part of the project in any way, he was given a minor part in the film.

In his acting career, he has made some regrettable choices, such as turning down a role in the Hollywood blockbuster film ‘Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift,’ where he was offered to to play a major character.

During the late 2000s, he was embroiled in several controversies, so the filmmakers decided to stay away from Edison. As a result of this, he was not getting good offers and he started appearing in minor roles.

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In 2014, he made a solid appearance with the film ‘Golden Chickensss.' In 2016, he was spotted filming with famous Hong Kong director Lou Ye.

As for his musical career, he released his first hip-hop album in 2004 titled ‘Please Steal this Album.’ Several songs from the album became chart-busters. This encouraged Chen to release a few more albums in Cantonese and Mandarin. he has been fairly successful in his musical endeavors.

Controversies

Edison Chen has been controversy’s favourite child ever since he achieved success. First major controversy surfaced in 2004, when he was assaulted by two teenagers in Hong Kong. Edison didn’t file any complaints and forgave the kids.

In 2007, he got in a scuffle with a taxi driver, and got fined for this incident.

In 2008, he faced a major controversy regarding his nude pictures surfacing on the internet but as it turned out, his computer was hacked, and the hacker was later arrested. This remained in the media for a long time and tarnished his image.

This was followed by another leaked photo scandal in 2011, when his intimate photographs with a 16 year old model got leaked on the Internet.

Personal Life

Edison Chen started dating Vincy Yeung in 2007 and openly stated in a TV show that he had plans to marry her, but after three years, the couple broke up, with Vincy claiming that Edison was a violent narcissist and he physically abused her on a number of occasions.

In 2013, Chen revealed that he was dating a model Ann Hong and that they were planning to get married, but the plans fell apart when Ann found out that Chen had been cheating on her with another woman.

After several controversial affairs, a few of them with much younger girls, Chen promised that he was a changed man.

Thereafter, he was spotted kissing a woman Shupei Qin at a restaurant, and it later turned out that Qin was a married woman. Chen denied the affair but in August 2017, Chen revealed that he had a baby girl with her.

Edison Chen Biography