Charlene Choi

Biography

Charlene Choi Tsoek-jin (Chinese: 蔡卓妍; born 22 November 1982) is a Hong Kong and Canadian actress and singer. She is a member of Hong Kong pop duo Twins, along with Gillian Chung.

Early life

Choi was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada on 22 November 1982. She moved with her family to Hong Kong a few years later. She was educated at Marymount Secondary School and Rosaryhill School. She is fluent in Cantonese, and could speak in English and Mandarin. After graduating from Rosaryhill School, where many other would-be pop stars had attended, she started working full-time as a model in Hong Kong. She was scouted by Emperor Entertainment Group (EEG), and was then linked with Gillian Chung to form the Cantopop group Twins.

Acting

Aside from her musical career, Choi has become a successful actress in the Hong Kong film industry. She wrote an article describing her acting career:

Earlier, I shared with everyone some of my acting experiences. This time, I want to talk about movies. As an artist, whenever I'm working, I have to show my best side and give my best performance. I have to show the fittest side of me and hence, I'm often in "battle mode". When free, I like to watch slow-paced movies. I can't stand movies with too much excitement. I'm the type who can be easily sucked into the world of the movie. That type of fast-paced movie will end up making me tense and nervous so comedy, romance or movies centered on issues of humanity all suit me better."

Choi's first acting gig was a starring role in the 2000 television drama Youth Y2K which produced by RTHK. Choi made her first film debut in 2001 in Funeral March (filmed prior to Twins' debut), which drew rave reviews from critics and earned her a Best New Performer nomination at the 21st Hong Kong Film Awards. Choi's next big acting break was in 2003 with her earnest and pretence-free portrayal of a young girl who battles through all odds in hopes of becoming a singer in Diva – Ah Hey.
Choi has taken Jim Chim as a mentor, and portrayed a kind and comedic porn star in the comedy film Simply Actors (2007). Her breakthrough role in the Pang brothers' psychological thriller Diary (2006) earned her many film award nominations and she received the Best Actress award at the 11th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BiFan Korean Movie Award). Choi's acting was identified by film critics with her portrayal of Dani Dan in Simply Actors. She won the Best Actress and Favourite Actress awards at the 2007 Golden Bauhinia Awards for her performance. Choi also played the leading role alongside the Taiwanese singer Jay Chou in the 2008 comedy-action film Kung Fu Dunk.
Choi co-starred with Wu Chun and Hu Ge in The Butterfly Lovers, based on the Chinese legend of the same name, which was released on 9 October 2008. Throughout the filming, rumors of an off-set romance between Choi and Wu Chun developed. Though they have denied such rumors, Wu stated that the pair reached an agreement with director Jingle Ma to collaborate once again in the future.
In December 2008, she began filming her first Taiwanese television drama, Calling For Love, produced by Angie Chai, co-starring with Mike He. The series was first aired in May 2010.
In December 2009 after over a year of post-production, positive response at the Shanghai International Film Festival, The Storm Warriors was released with Choi taking on the main female lead role as Second Dream and starring alongside Aaron Kwok, Ekin Cheng, Simon Yam and Nicholas Tse. Though it was only released on 10 December, The Storm Warriors ranked fifth in the Hong Kong Chinese-language box office of the year.
In 2010, after having concentrated heavily on music in the previous year, Choi started taking on more acting projects. Her first film for that year was Beauty on Duty, which she co-starred with Sandra Ng. Following that, Choi appeared in Triple Tap with Daniel Wu and Louis Koo. Choi's next film, The Jade and the Pearl, saw her co-starring with Raymond Lam and her close friends Joey Yung and Wong Cho-lam, as well as a collaboration between Choi and Lam in singing a duet theme song. Choi concluded work on God of Fortune's Inn with Nicholas Tse and Nick Cheung. She again co-starred with Nicholas Tse in Mainland Chinese television series Sword Heroes' Fate, which was aired in 2011.
Starring as Chan in Detective vs Sleuths, the latest film from director Wai Ka Fai, co-founder of Milkyway Image. As per the director's comment during interviews, Choi took the risk by performing many of the stunts herself while shooting.

Musical career

Choi's first solo song, Diva, Ah Hey!, was released in Twins' 2003 album Touch of Love. The song received a nomination for Best Song at the 23rd Hong Kong Film Awards and won a place in the Top 10 Songs at the Jade Solid Gold Songs Awards Ceremony. Choi's second solo song, Watching Movie Alone, was released in Twins' 2006 Mandarin album Around the World with 80 Dollars. Choi's third solo song, You are Not a Good Lover, was released in Twins' 2006 Cantonese album Ho Hoo Tan. This was Choi's first recorded personal composition and Twins' recorded version earned the place of Hit Song at the Metro Showbiz Hit Awards and one of the Top 10 Songs at the Jade Solid Gold Songs Awards Ceremony.
Choi's remaining two solo songs, "Little Sister" and "60 Percent", were released before the Edison Chen photo scandal in their 2008 Mandarin album Tong Hua Yan Yu. Both solo songs were extremely personal. "Little Sister" in particular recounts Choi's relationship with her mother throughout the years despite her parents' divorce at a young age and won Choi several music awards at the Metro Showbiz Hit Awards and TVB8 Music Awards.
Choi's first solo single was released in 2008 with the award-winning "Make a Wish", which sold 5000 copies within a span of 30 minutes with all proceeds going to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. Meanwhile, her two hit songs, "Little Sister" and "Make a Wish" ranked first in music charts and remained in the top 10 for four music charts over 11 weeks. With Twins placed on hiatus, Choi went on to be awarded with a variety of solo singer awards in 2008: Favorite Idol and Most Voted Singer at the Metro Showbiz Hit Awards, Most Popular Female Singer at the Vanguard Music Awards and Most Popular Hong Kong Female Artist at the Sprite Music Awards.

Towards the end of 2008, Choi further expanded her career, entering new fields of the entertainment industry. In the musical Knight Star she stars as the female lead Rose. Acting as her lover, she reunited with Jimmy Lin after seven years. Lin first collaborated with Choi in her first series The Monkey King: Quest for the Sutra when she first entered the industry. Other stars in the musical include Julian Cheung, and Alice Liu. The musical served as a promotional event for the Chivas company to expand in China with their "Live with Chivalry" campaign.
Choi's first musical collaboration as a solo singer with another artist was the duet "Little Dimples", released in late September 2008, which she performed with JJ Lin. The song received six awards in the remaining three months of 2008.
Choi released her debut solo album Two Without One on 9 April 2009. In less than one week, the album sold 10,000 copies in Hong Kong and has been certified "Gold" in Hong Kong. In less than a month, the album sold a total of 30,000 copies in Hong Kong and was certified "Platinum". Due to high sales and demand, a second version of the album is slated to be released on 6 May as a limited edition with 5,000 copies available.
Following the success of Two Without One, Choi released her next EP, titled Another Me×Another Me15 October 2009 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 8 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11生還者2放得低3等一個懷抱4幸福空氣5同班同學Disc 21生還者（MV）2放得低（MV）3幸福空氣（MV）, on 15 October 2009. Consisting of five tracks and three music videos, the overall theme of the EP is an evolving process as an individual. The release of Another Me marked new territory for Choi with a black-and-white cover and a largescale photo exhibition open to the public. As with Two Without One, Another Me was also certified "Platinum", selling nearly 60,000 copies in Hong Kong, in addition to high sales in Asia and overseas. Choi's success as a solo female singer in 2009 was best displayed at the 2009 IFPI HK Top Sales Music Awards, where she was awarded "Top 10 Best Selling Hong Kong Singers of 2009". In addition, Two Without One and Another Me were each awarded "Top 10 Best Selling Cantonese Albums of 2009."
Following her success in 2009 as a solo singer, Choi released her debut Mandarin album As A Sa×As a Sa15 June 2010 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11愛贏才會拼2往事並不如煙3大風暴4放手5未來未必來6知己7捨得愛8抽離9二缺一10妳的吻好甜Disc 21愛贏才會拼（MV）2往事並不如煙（MV）3大風暴（MV）4知己(電影 <美麗密令>主題曲)（MV） in 2010. With more than HK$1 million spent on producing the album, As A Sa was released across China on 15 June. Consequently, Choi launched her country-wide promotional tour with a multitude of mini-concerts, autograph sessions, performances, recorded television programs, national radio interviews, and talk shows.
Choi has released her third Cantonese album Beauty Remains×Beauty Remains14 October 2010 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 7 tracks · 2 discsDisc 11簡簡單單2早沾勿藥3煞有介事4黑與白5小玩笑Disc 21簡簡單單（MV）2煞有介事（MV） on 15 October 2010.
Choi reunited with Gillian and released a new song titled "Femininity" to celebrate Twins' 20th anniversary. The music video was released on 18 May 2021, featuring Twins' songs including "Strawberry Apple Orange", "Summer Frenzy", "Thank You So Much" and "Love is Bigger than the Sky". Affected by the pandemic and quarantine policy, an online concert "TME live Super Live Twins 20 Love You Anniversary Celebration" was held that month, broadcast live exclusively with Tencent's TME and JOOX.
Later in the same year, Choi and Gillian went on recording the theme song for the movie "Sunny Sisters" and released a new song "Nice to Meet You".
Charlene signed up for the comeback survival reality show Sister Who Make Waves season 3 with her long time bandmate Gillian Chung. They were competing against a lineup of a total of 28 female artists with diverse talents. On 5 August 2022, Charlene Choi debuted at 7th place for the third season of Sisters Who Make Waves which premiered on 20 May 2022, on Mango TV.

Personal life

Charlene Choi and Ronald Cheng knew each other through the film: The Pursuit of 15 August, rumors spread that they were dating on the set of the film. At the beginning of 2010, news broke out on the internet that they got married. On March 17, 2010 at the promotion of the film: The Secret Order of Beauty, she said that she had broken up with Cheng for some time, and the two were separated because of mutual understanding. Cheng admitted that he had been separated from Choi during the promotion of the film: The Treasure Box of Yue Guang. On 27 March 2010, the Apple Daily in Hong Kong published the marriage certificate that the two married in the Van Nuys, Los Angeles as early as 31 January 2006. In the evening of the same day, the two attended a press conference and admitted that they were married as early as 2006 and had completed the divorce procedures for several months.
After filming: The Secret Order of Beauty, Charlene Choi and William Chan were seen publicly kissing each other. They officially admitted their relationship on 10 October 2010. On 20 September 2015, they both issued a statement on Weibo announcing their breakup
In the fall of 2017, Charlene Choi was rumoured to be dating Shi Hengcong, and later confirmed her new relationship in person during the event. In 2019, Charlene Choi completed her second egg freezing procedure.
On April 28, 2026, Charlene Choi announced her marriage to fitness instructor Elvis Lam Chun-yin.

Philanthropy

As a donor to the Make-A-Wish Foundation since 2001 and a Make a Wish ambassador in 2008, Choi released the hit single and award-winning 'Make a Wish', which sold 5000 copies within a span of 30 minutes with all proceeds going to the foundation. Choi also sold clothing from her own "SAL" clothing line to fans to raise more money for the foundation.
Choi also wrote an autobiographical book about her teenage years as a child of divorced parents. Although she remains close to both her parents, Choi lived with her father after her parents' divorce. However, following her decision to become a singer-actress, the time she spent at home and with her parents rapidly diminished. As a result, the means of communicating with her father became all the more special. In her book Single Family's Love, many little notes exchanged between her and her father over the years can be seen. Through the autobiography, readers are encouraged to find happiness in single parent families. The money raised from the 5000 Limited 1st Edition copies sold were all donated to the Make a Wish Foundation. Choi thanked her friends and fans for the good sales of her autobiography. Her friends such as Jay Chou (who wrote her book's introduction), bandmate Gillian Chung (who also put her thoughts into Choi's introduction), Niki Chow, Mani, and Wu Chun were big supporters as well, buying copies for their friends and families. As of now, a new edition of her book is being printed and will be distributed overseas.
Choi became an ambassador for the 30 Hours Famine charity in the beginning of February 2009. She went to Nepal for a week to help the locals by bringing supplies to schools. In return, she was taught the local gardening technique. In April 2009, Choi performed at the 30-Hour Famine Concert, opening the concert and performing an assortment of new Chinese and English songs, as well as old Twins songs for nearly an hour.