Charlie Chin was born on May 19th, 1948 in
Nanjing,
China. His originality is Huang-gang, Hu Bei Province.
He moved to Hong Kong with his family at childhood and grew up in
HK. At age of 12, Charlie went to Taiwan to join a Peking Opera
Training school (Fu Xing Ju Xiao). When
he was 20, he returned to HK to join Guo Tai Movie Inc and started his
movie career. His movie debut is "Xia Ri Chu Lian"
(Literal: the First Love in Summer). In 1972, Charlie went
back to Taiwan. He made many action / martial art movies in his
early years from 1968 to 1973.
In 1973, a Qiong Yao's movie called "Xin You Qian Qian Jie" earned Charlie the stardom. This movie was directed by the famous TW director Li Xing (Li Hsing) and co-starring the most popular actress at that time Chen Chen. His tall, handsome look soon made him the leading man in many up-coming romance movies.
The hit "Xin You Xian Xian Jie" landed him many movies in 1974, most are romance movies. He won the best actor in 1975's Golden Horse Award for his performance in "Long Way From the Home" (1974), a movie about the Chinese students' lives in US.
From 1975 to the end of 1970s, the golden age
of TW romance movies, Charlie made a large amount of romantic
movies. Along with Chin Han, Brigitte Lin, and Joan Lin, they
made the name "Two Lins, Two Chins", which became a symbol of
the 70s romance movies. They were the megastars, the icons, the
heartthrobs and the sweethearts in TW, HK, and southeastern Asia.
Their names were the guaranty in the box office, and they were worshiped
and followed by millions of fans. As one of the gorgeous male leads,
Charlie worked with many famous actresses during the time, although he was
constantly being paired up with the two Lins.
Charlie won his second Golden Horse Award for his performance in a QY's movie "Ren Zai Tian Ya" (1977), another movie about the lives of oversea Chinese.
As the TW romance movies went downhill, Charlie made much less movies in 80s, with a more variety from comedies, war movies to gangster movies. He gradually quitted the showbiz and began to engage in business. Although he was one of the prince charmings in 1970s, Charlie didn't like romance movies that much. He more enjoy making some light-hearted comedies.
Charlie was married to the famous HK movie star Xiao Fangfang (Josephine Siao) in 1975 and got divorced three years later. In early 80s, Charlie was engaged to Brigitte Lin, but the engagement only lasted for 4 years. Charlie finally married to his present wife who is 16 year junior to him, They reside in California now and have two sons. Charlie is involved in real estate business and enjoy playing golf.
In 2000, being invited by Li Xing, Charlie returned to TW to present Golden Horse Award and appeared in the spotlight again. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to watch his presence in TW. However, according to a few friends who witnessed his appearance on TV, Charlie was still attractive with his star qualities.
My best wishes to Charlie Chin, a gorgeous and talented movie star.
(Click the above article to read a Chinese bio of Charlie written in 1983.)
Charlie Chin's Profile
English Name: Charlie Chin
Chinese Name (Pin Yin): Qin Xianglin
Chinese Name (TW Spelling): Chin Hsiang Lin
Chinese Name (HK Spelling): Chun Cheung Lam
Birthday: 1948 5 19
Height: 1.83m