Karena Lam

Karena Lam (Chinese language: 林嘉欣; Cantonese: Làm Gāyān; pinyin: Lín Jiāxīn; born 17 August 1978) is a Taiwanese actress and singer based in Hong Kong. She was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. In 2015, she won the Best Actress Award at the Golden Horse Awards for her role in Zinnia flower (百日告別), making her the first person ever to have won all of the following three Golden Horse awards: Best Lead Actress, Best Supporting Actress and Best New Performer.

Personal life

Lam's father is from Hong Kong, while her mother is a Japanese Chinese from Taiwan. Lam holds Taiwanese citizenship.

Career

Lam was working at her Vancouver family restaurant when she was discovered by a talent scout from Taiwan in 1993, at age fifteen. The scout persuaded her to fly to Taiwan that Christmas, alone, for a singing audition in the hope of securing a professional contract. The audition was a success and she released two albums, her debut album in 1995 and her second album later in 1999. However both were met with modest success.