Lin Chi-ling

Lin Chi-ling 林志玲
Chi-ling at the LG New Chocolate Phone launching event in Hong Kong on 4 November 2009
Born	(1974-11-29) 29 November 1974 (age 42) Taipei, Taiwan
Occupation	Actress, model, television host
Modeling information
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Hair color	Black
Eye color	Brown
Manager	Catwalk Production House Avex Management

Lin Chi-ling (born 29 November 1974) is a Taiwanese model and actress. Lin's unusually fast rise to fame was noted by one Taiwanese commentator, who coined the phrase "The Lin Chi-Ling Phenomenon".

Lin's father, Lin Fan-nan (Chinese: 林繁男), and her mother, Wu Tzu-mei (Chinese: 吳慈美), are both from Tainan, in southern Taiwan. Following their marriage, they moved to Taipei where Lin and her elder brother Lin Chi-hong (Chinese: 林志鴻) were born. Lin attended Taipei Municipal Zhongzheng Junior High School and at the age of 15 was discovered by model talent scout Lin Chien-huan (Chinese: 林健寰). She later attended Bishop Strachan School in Toronto, Canada, then attended the University of Toronto until 1997, when she completed bachelor degree, double-majoring in Western art history and economics.

After graduating from university, Lin returned to Taiwan. She intended to pursue a career in fine art and sought a position at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum, but was turned away because she lacked a postgraduate degree in the field. Lin continued to model part-time before leaving the industry and working as an administrative assistant for the Fubon Cultural and Educational Foundation. In 2000, Lin left Fubon and spent three months studying in Japan, then returned to Taiwan and modeling, with Catwalk Production House.

In 2002, Lin was invited to model in a television advertisement in Hong Kong. The advertisement received attention and discussion on the internet, and interest in Lin began to grow. The following year, noted television producer Ge Hongfu offered Lin a position as hostess of a fashion program on Shanghai Oriental Television. In 2004, Lin starred in a broad series of advertisements in Taiwan that included big giant building-size posters, billboards, and television commercials. Almost overnight, Lin skyrocketed to national fame and became an instant celebrity model. Her rise to fame initiated a Taiwanese craze for supermodels, an effect commentators named "The Lin Chi-ling Phenomenon" (Chinese: 林志玲現象; pinyin: Lín Zhìlínɡ xiànxiànɡ).