Wu Chin-yi (; born 4 March 1968), professionally known as Annie Yi () or Annie Shizuka Inoh (), is a Taiwanese singer, actress, and writer.
Early life Wu Chin-yi was born on March 4, 1968, in Taipei, Taiwan, the youngest of seven daughters of Yang Shu-wan and Wu Min. Her mother is from Keelung and her father is from Shandong. Her father divorced her mother to marry another woman who gave him a boy, her half-brother Wu Pu-hui.
During her childhood, she was sent to study in an English-language primary school at Hong Kong. Then, she moved to Japan to live with her mother and her step-father, Yoshimitsu Inoh, a Japanese man from the Ryukyu Islands. She took her step-father's surname and took a Japanese name "Shizuka Inoh". She lived in Tokyo, Japan for six years and studied at Tokyo Chinese School.
Career At the age of 17, she returned to Taiwan from Japan and became a singer under Liu Wen-cheng’s Flying Eagle Production. She took the stage name "Yi Nengjing", by simplifying her Japanese name dropping the last character. She debuted alongside her labelmates Donna Chiu and Fang Wen-lin, becoming a popular teen idol in the late 1980s and 1990s, and also expanded her singing career to Hong Kong and Japan.
Since 1995, Yi successfully transitioned from music to film, working with Taiwanese director Hou Hsiao-hsien on three films, including her debut Good Men, Good Women (1995), followed by Goodbye South, Goodbye (1996), and a cameo in Flowers of Shanghai (1998). In 1999, Yi starred in 8 ½ Women, a film by British director Peter Greenaway. Yi is also a writer of both fiction and nonfiction, known for her self-help books on relationships.
Since the early 2000s, Yi shifted her career focus to mainland China. In addition to acting, she was a regular judge on talent shows, notably serving as a four-time judge from 2010 to 2013 on China's Got Talent. In 2020, Yi participated in the reality show Sisters Who Make Waves.
Personal life
Relationships On 14 February 2000, after a relationship of 14 years, Yi married Taiwanese singer Harlem Yu in the United States. They have a son Harrison Yu Enli (), originally named Yu Hanrui (), who was born on 16 March 2002 in the United States. On November 10, 2008, photos of Yi holding hands with Taiwanese actor Victor Huang during a date in Beijing were exposed, with further allegations that they had been having a three-year affair since co-starring in the TV series Concubines of Qing Emperor (2006), while Yi was married and Huang was in a relationship. In March 2009, Yi and Yu issued a divorce statement.
On 21 March 2015, Yi married Chinese actor Qin Hao in Phuket, Thailand. Yi gave birth to their daughter Cindy Qin in 2016 in the United States.
Political views In the early 2010s, Yi was actively engaged in public discussions on Weibo, such as in the 2011 Wenzhou train collision, cultivating a civic-minded, pro-democracy image, sometimes referred to as a public intellectual. However, her career was derailed due to her criticism of the Chinese government's censorship and her support for press freedom during the 2013 Southern Weekly incident, which resulted in a brief Weibo ban and a year-long TV ban. Since her return, Yi has shifted her public stance towards a pro-CCP and pro-unification position, which has sparked controversy in her native Taiwan. In 2024, she was invited to attend the reception celebrating the 75th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, held at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.
Religion In 2019, Yi raised controversy on Weibo for promoting the teachings of Indian godman Kalki Bhagwan, the founder of a spiritual organization Oneness. After the Chinese Ministry of Public Security (MPS) and China Anti-Cult Association (CACA) issued a warning about the Oneness cult's activities, she removed the related Weibo posts.
Adoption On 25 September 2013, Yi announced that she adopted Xia Junfeng's son Xia Jianqiang as her godson and his wife Zhang Jing as her blood sister.
Filmography Film YearEnglish titleOriginal titleRoleNotes1987Naughty Cadets on Patrol大頭兵出擊1989Emergency Police Lady霹靂警花Yin Xiaojun1995Good Men, Good Women好男好女Liang Ching1996Goodbye South, Goodbye南國再見，南國Pretzel1997Gun with Love我血我情YingyingWolves Cry Under the Moon國道封閉Jade1998Flowers of Shanghai海上花Golden Flower19998½ WomenSimatoEnglish-language film2006Fifteen-Minute Angel天使一刻鐘Yu LuoxinTV film2007Call for Love爱情呼叫转移Liang HuijunCrossed Lines命运呼叫转移Doctor LüSegment 4: "The Boy Who Cried Wolf" (山难)2010Secret Battleground孤島秘密戰Ancient Town Affection古镇情缘Ye BeiWill Tomorrow Ever Come明天是否来临Xinming2011Coming Back回马枪Min YuePerfect Baby巴黎宝贝RoseMy Kingdom大武生Xiaoyu2012The Assassins銅雀臺Fu Shou2013Better and Better越来越好之村晚Chief interviewerThe Palace宮鎖沈香Empress XiaojingxianTimeless Love时光恋人Zhong YingThe Empire Symbol帝国秘符Ayako Ono2015The Queens我是女王Melissaalso director, co-writer, and co-producer
TV series YearEnglish titleOriginal titleRoleNotes1991The 700-Million Bride七億新娘Jiang Xujie1997Portrait of a Fanatic情在艰难岁月中Fu Lu1998Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow明天有你Tian Jingzi2000April Rhapsody人間四月天Lu XiaomanThe Voices Within心灵物语Su Huimin2001Poor Prince貧窮貴公子LingziMarried Off to Japan远嫁日本Zhou Mingli2002In Love偷偷愛上你Ni Chunchun2003A Leaf in the Storm風聲鶴唳Zhang WanxinPainting Soul畫魂Xia Mengying2005Lovelorn High Heels失戀高跟鞋Zhang Ning2006The Life and Death Love生死绝恋Yang YinghongConcubines of the Qing Emperor大清後宮Consort Xiang2007Sad Songs of the Qinhuai River秦淮悲歌Liu Rushi2008The Spirit of the Sword浣花洗劍錄Princess TuochenThe Long River East Flows長河東流Yuniang2009Love Tribulations鎖清秋Li Yue'eFuego狼烟Lu PeipeiThe Young Lawyer Ji Xiaolan少年訟師紀曉嵐Wu ShishiThree Women's Secret三个女人的秘密Wang DingGreat Porcelain Merchant大瓷商Wei Qiuhe
Television show(s) YearEnglish titleOriginal titleRoleNotes2020Sisters Who Make Waves乘风破浪的姐姐Cast member
Notes
Names in native languages
References
External links
Annie's Internet Conservatory Official site (in Chinese) Annie's Blog