Ruby Lin
Ruby Lin Xin-ru is a Taiwanese actress, television and film producer, and singer.
Lin began her career as a commercial model in 1993 and gained pan-Asian prominence for her role as Xia Ziwei in the megahit TV series My Fair Princess. She followed the success with TV series such as The Duke of Mount Deer, Romance in the Rain, Boy & Girl, Affair of Half a Lifetime, Beauty's Rival in Palace, The Glamorous Imperial Concubine and The Way We Were. While focusing mostly on TV, she also starred in films such as The House That Never Dies, The Devotion of Suspect X and Miss Andy. As a singer, she released six albums, beginning with Heartbeat.
Since Lin started her own studio in 2009, she has been producing TV dramas and TV films starring herself, both in mainland China and Taiwan. Her production debut The Glamorous Imperial Concubine won her Best Producer at the 2012 TV Drama Awards Made in China, and her first Taiwanese drama production The Way We Were won three out of seven nominations, including Best Television Series at the 50th Golden Bell Awards.
According to Apple Daily, Lin was the third highest-earning Taiwanese drama actress in 2011, and the top-earner in 2012 and 2013. Lin ranked 30th on Forbes China Celebrity 100 list in 2013, 36th in 2014, 82nd in 2015, and 68th in 2017.
Early life
Lin was born and raised in Wugu, New Taipei City, Taiwan. Her father was a businessman, and her mother a housewife. Her English name, Ruby, is from her mother's love of the jewel. As the eldest of four children in family, Lin has two younger brothers—one a year younger and the other six years younger—and a half-sister, ten years younger, from her father’s second marriage after divorcing from Lin's mother when Lin was 7. After her parents' divorce, Lin lived with her mother, who took her to visit relatives in Japan every year. She graduated from Ri Xin Primary School and Zhong Dian High School. Lin originally planned on going to the United Kingdom to study after high school graduation. However, she was discovered by a talent agent at the age of seventeen, during her second year in high school, and started working as a part-time commercial model. Her first TV commercial was for a tea brand in 1994.Lin’s parents were initially opposed to her involvement in the entertainment industry. After appearing in several commercials, her parents eventually agreed to let her sign with an entertainment-management company. She officially joined Jessie and Jones Entertainment Ltd on her 20th birthday, shortly after graduating from high school.
Career
Early work: 1995–1996
When Lin received her first experience in front of the camera in 1995, for a minor role, she started to develop a passion for acting. After filming her first TV commercial, Lin caught the attention of TV and film directors, and many companies began seeking her for roles. She received her first role in the film School Days, with Jimmy Lin and Takeshi Kaneshiro. From 1995 to 1997 after MD completed, Lin had roles in several Taiwanese TV series and began to attract attention and buzz from the media. In 1996, Lin went to China for the first time to film; she considered this a period of valuable experience and a time that she began to learn about acting.Breakthrough: 1997–2001
After playing minor roles in various series and films, Lin was selected by Taiwanese writer Chiung Yao to audition for a main role in the comedic period drama My Fair Princess, a joint production by mainland China and Taiwan which was adapted from Chiung Yao's own novel. Originally picked for the role of Princess Saiya, Lin was ultimately chosen by the company to play Xia Ziwei instead, as the actress scheduled to play the main role was unavailable.The drama quickly became a phenomenal sensation, appealing to large audiences in mainland China, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Southeast Asia. Lin rose to prominence and became a household name overnight.
After My Fair Princess, Lin starred in a number of successful television series. In 2000 she starred in Hong Kong TVB's production of The Duke of Mount Deer with Dicky Cheung, Shu Qi and other well-known artists. In this series, Lin played Princess Jian Ning – a sassy, funny girl. This role demonstrated her acting range, since it differed from the nice, sweet image she had developed from her role in My Fair Princess. The following year, she starred in Romance in the Rain, a costume drama based in the 1930s and 1940s, also written by Chiung Yao. The series was a commercial success and recorded the highest ratings of the year. For two consecutive years, Lin was included in the Top Ten Most Famous Asian Superstars. The same year, she was selected in fourth place in "Malaysia 2001 Heavenly Kings & Queens".
As Lin felt she had achieved all she could in television, she started venturing into films. In 2000, she appeared in three Hong Kong films - Winner Takes All, Comic King and the action movie China Strike Force with Aaron Kwok and Taiwanese actor-singer Leehom Wang. Although Lin had only a supporting role, she considered it a learning experience. With these films, she made inroads into the Hong Kong market.
Mainstream success: 2002–2005
Since 2002, Lin focused on her career in mainland China. In 2003, she starred in three series - Half Life Fate , Boy & Girl and Flying Daggers. Lin was chosen for the female lead in the TV version of Half Life Fate; the film version was directed by Ann Hui, a well-known Asian director. For Lin, it was a challenging role and she was under pressure.Lin's work yielded good results; her performance enhanced her fame, earning accolades for capturing her screen character Man Zhen's 14 years of arduous life. The series was broadcast in China, Hong Kong, Taiwan and South Korea. The same year, Lin also appeared in the youth romantic TV series Boy & Girl; it was broadcast in China by CCTV, receiving the highest rating of all series aired in 2003. With this series, Lin was selected one of the Top 10 actresses of the year; of those 10 actresses, she was the only one from Taiwan. She then appeared in the ancient martial arts TV series Flying Daggers, based on Gu Long's novel. It was her first
martial-arts series, and Lin played against type – portraying a cold assassin, rather than her usual gentle damsel. These three series were released in 2003 throughout Asia, contributing to Lin's rise in popularity and recognition. Though Lin focused on TV series, she continued to appear in films such as the adventure drama Life Express and the romantic comedy Love Trilogy, which was relatively successful in China.
Lin sparked a trend towards China-Korea collaborations when she starred in the 2004 production Amor de Tarapaca. Lin was involved in another original Korean screenplay Magic Touch of Fate, co-starring Taiwanese actor Alec Su and Korean idol Kangta. This series is the highest-budgeted miniseries in Asian television history. By this time, Lin had been in show business for almost a decade, with nearly non-stop filming. She wanted to go back to school; since high school, studying abroad had been her dream. In the winter of 2004, after filming Magic Touch of Fate, Lin decided to study language and acting for three months in New York City. While she was there, Lin studied English at Study Group International and performance at the New York Film Academy.
Returning home to Taiwan with a new passion for acting in February 2005, Lin starred in Paris Sonata. For her role in Paris Sonata, she learned to play piano two months before filming. After Paris Sonata, she selected the TV drama Sound of Colors as her next work, portraying a blind radio DJ. Lin's performance as a blind girl received good reviews from audiences and the news media. This drama was broadcast in many countries, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, Philippines, Vietnam and the United States. This was followed by the dramas Star Boulevard and Da Li Princess, which were expected to be released in 2008 by CCTV.
Another Milestone: 2006–2009
In 2006, Lin's starred in the television series Ancestral Temple where she further expanded her acting range. After three months of filming in Huang Shan, China, the series was completed at the end of October 2006. Its broadcast by CCTV-1 was planned for 2008. On June 6, 2006, Lin won the Most Popular Actress in Taiwan award at the 2nd Chinese TV Drama Award ceremony in Beijing. She has also been regularly featured in polls as one of the Top 10 contemporary Chinese actors.At the end of 2006, Lin bid farewell to her management company Zhong Jie, after a 10-year relationship, and on November 30, 2006 ceremoniously signed with Huayi Brothers Film and Television group for a reported $10 million. Hua Yi Bros. is the largest management and domestic movie-making company in China. In September 2007, she guest-starred in CCTV's historical drama Su DongPo. In this series she played the first wife of Su Dongpo, played by Lu Yi.
After filming the digital film Evening of Roses, Lin took on more challenging roles. In late 2007, she co-starred as Daji with Ray Lui in The Legend and the Hero 2, one of the major vernacular Chinese novels written during the Ming dynasty. After speculation over who would receive the leading role of Daji, the role was offered to Lin. When Lin committed to play Daji, she could not escape comparison with Fan Bingbing, who played the same role in the first part of the series. Lin's performance received generally positive comments from media. NetandTV commented, "In comparison to the previous version, the bright spot in this new version's Daji gets a new makeover. Ruby Lin's look gave Daji a brand-new definition". Lin has often said "comparing with other people is meaningless, I just wants a breakthrough from past looks, to surpass myself."
In 2008, Lin returned to Taiwan for the series Love in Sun Moon Lake, playing an aboriginal woman; this was the first TV series to obtain permission for mainland Chinese actors to film in Taiwan. It was also announced that Lin had been cast as Sun Shangxiang in the new Romance of the Three Kingdoms TV adaptation directed by Gao Xixi, titled Three Kingdoms. The series was aired in May 2010, and was well-received both domestically and internationally, earning an estimated 800 million RMB by 2012.
In early 2009, she was cast in Fallen City. In this film, Lin plays a rebellious woman during the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. In July 2009, Lin starred as Empress Dou in the Chinese big-budget historical fiction television drama Beauty's Rival in Palace. For her role in the series, Lin received a salary of 150,000 renminbi per episode. When the series premièred on a Shanghai TV station in March 2010 with the highest rating of the year, Lin got positive reviews from audiences and critics. It was reported that Beauty's Rival in Palace sold well in the Korean and Japanese markets, due to Ruby Lin's unwavering popularity in Asia. Beauty's Rival in Palace is another milestone in Lin's career.