ELLA CHEN

'Chen Chia-Hwa' (, born 18 June, 1981 in Pingtung County), more commonly credited as 'Ella', is the oldest member of the Taiwanese girl group S.H.E.

Contents

Career

Image

Personal life

Discography

Filmography

References

External links

Career

:''See also: S.H.E's musical career, S.H.E's television and film career''
Ella Chen finished high school but did not attend university due to her love and passion for singing. On August 8, 2000, HIM International Music held a 'Universal 2000 Talent and Beauty Girl Contest' in search of new artists to sign under their label. When she travelled with her brother to Taipei for a holiday, Ella Chen discovered that her older sister registered her for a singing competition. Intimidated by the long line of contestants and worried of facing ridicule for her tomboy personality, Chen almost gave up before the first round. Her older sister, however, convinced her to stay. Chen's deep voice caught the label's attention, and helped propel her through to the final round. Her voice, although in the alto range, is noted for its strong and beautiful nature.^[1]
During her career with S.H.E, Ella has been the most accident-prone member. On July 29, she was sent to the hospital after jumping from the third storey of a building and shattering her hip. She returned three weeks later to promote ''Super Star''. In 2005, during the filming of ''Reaching for the Stars'', Ella burned her ears and hair on a candle, prompting crew members to send her to the National Taiwanese University Hospital.^[2] In order to recover, Ella stayed away from filming for two days, during which she cut off approximately two centimetres of burnt hair on both sides of her head.

Image

Chen is an avid basketball player, and usually plays basketball with other Taiwanese celebrities such as Jay Chou. She is known for her amusing, kind and easy going personality. In 2007, she was voted by online fans as Taiwan's most down-to-earth (unpretentious) artist.^[3] Out of the three members of S.H.E, Ella is the most outspoken. Since the release of S.H.E's first album in 2001, Ella has usually been the one to answer reporters' questions.^[4] As the tomboy of S.H.E, Ella is frequently the subject of jokes targeting her gender and sexual orientation, but she usually takes the jabs in stride.^[5] Netizens even labelled her one of China's Four Main Tomboys of the past century.^[6] Her unusually deep voice earned her a starring role as the voice of Arthur in the Mandarin version of ''Arthur and the Minimoys''.

Personal life

Ella had a small pug named Qiang Qiang. However, due to health problems, Qiang Qiang had to undergo surgery and passed away due to an anaesthetic allergic reaction. As a result of this, she composed and wrote the lyrics to a song dedicated to her deceased pet. She released the EP recently and all the profits will go to animal shelter associations.
Ella dated a man she referred to as DJ (later revealed to be code for the man's English name, 'Dear Josh') for two months before they split. According to Ella, the break up occurred based on their age and personality differences, with Josh being almost ten years Ella's senior.

Discography

★ ''Qiang Qiang'' (蔷蔷) - solo EP, released August 272007.

Filmography

★ ''Magical Love'' (2002)

★ ''The Rose'' (2003)

★ ''Reaching for the Stars'' (2005)

★ ''Hanazakarino Kimitachihe'' (2006)

★ ''Arthur and the Minimoys'' (2007)

★ ''The Lollipop Idol Drama'' (2007)


Taiwan (Mandarin) version.

References

1. S.H.E - Girls are the World. November 5, 2003. Retrieved April 4, 2007.
2. Feng Yijian. Liberty Times. Ella catches fire; hair burnt, ears swollen. June 23, 2005. Retrieved February 15, 2007.
3. Yahoo! China News. Fans vote; sweetheart Cindy Wang is too fake, Tony Chen's fakeness gets him first place. March 16, 2007. Retrieved March 16, 2007.
4. S.H.E Girl Friends had three people sleeping on one bed. December 2, 2001. Retrieved February 27, 2007.
5. Woodworth, Max. Pop Stop. August 13, 2004. Retrieved June 28, 2007.
6. [1]

External links

★ Official S.H.E. Blog (Chinese)

★ S.H.E Daybook

★ Official Profile @ HIM International (Chinese)