6 Highly-Educated Actresses Who Are Also the Rich Second Generation
Many people like to think that celebrities come from poor backgrounds, the hero in a classic rags-to-riches story. But a good amount of celebrities are not only well-educated, they also come from wildly successful family backgrounds. The following “rich second generation” superstars not only have brains and beauty, they also have wealth.
1) Hong Kong singer and actress Kelly Chen (陳慧琳) is an alumnus of the Parsons School of Design, an extremely prestigious art and design school in New York City. Having studied in Japan for a period of time, Kelly is fluent in Japanese and English. Kelly’s modesty, humbleness, and her hard-earned success in the music industry has made quite a lot of people forget that she is actually the daughter of a very successful jewelry tycoon in Hong Kong.
2) Taiwanese actress and model Lin Chi-ling (林志玲), known for her beautiful figure and angelic looks, is more than just a pretty face. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in economics and Western art history at the University of Toronto. She had attempted to pursue a career in fine arts at a prestigious institution before turning to modeling. Not many people are aware that her father, Lin Fan-nan (林繁男), actually owns businesses in the aluminum and technology industries, worthing over a billion dollars in assets.
3) Taiwanese actress Michelle Chen (陳妍希) debuted in 2007, but did not make it big until the release of the 2011 film, You Are the Apple of My Eye <那些年，我們一起追的女孩>. The straight-A student, who scored the highest mark out of 200 students, graduated with a degree in business administration from the University of Southern California. Currently dating Chinese actor Chen Xiao (陳曉), the Taiwanese media are saying that Chen Xiao has hit the jackpot, as Michelle comes from a very successful and wealthy family in Taiwan.
4) One of Taiwan’s most popular actresses, Janine Chang (張鈞甯), was an ambitious student. After passing her college entrance exams with top marks, she was accepted into the National Taipei Industry to study history. In her second year, she changed her study to law. Even after making her acting debut in the industry, Janine continued to pursue her education and finally earned a Master of Laws degree at the National Central University in June 2010. Janine comes from a very educated family, and is related to the Wufeng Lin family, one of the most powerful Taiwanese families in recent history.
5) 2013 Miss Hong Kong winner Grace Chan (陳凱琳) moved to Canada when she was only five years old. She graduated with a degree in communications at Simon Fraser University before returning to Hong Kong in 2013 to join the Miss Hong Kong pageant. Grace’s father is a successful businessman, and she currently resides in a luxury mansion located in Kowloon Tong.
6) Born and raised in Taiwan, singer and actress Terri Kwan (關穎) went to the United States to pursue her tertiary education. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in dance at the University of the Arts, one of the country’s oldest schools, and earned a master’s degree in arts administration at New York University. Terri is the daughter of Chen Kuo-ho (陳國和), one of the board members of Jih Sun Financial Holding Co., Ltd., and her maternal grandfather is Tsai Wan-chun (蔡萬春), creator of Linyuan Group.
Source: QQ.com
This article is written by Addy for JayneStars.com.
5) Nothing against Grace Chan but just sayin’ as a local living here = a degree in Communications from Simon Fraser U is nothing to get that excited about.
The GPA entrance requirements/yrly-expectations to graduate from SFU are much lower than entrance into state U = UBC, or U of Toronto. Those state Us demand entrance admissions of 90 A-average or even above for highly competitive popular faculties.
Many who didn’t make it in Singapore or even after graduating from the 2 yr local colleges here; eventually got accepted into SFU when rejected by UBC … for Vancouver Canada.
SFU, is nowhere on the same calibre as say NY Parsons (where it’s competitive auditions/portfolios/interviews to get in) or the top Ivy League unis.
5) Nothing against Grace Chan but just saying as a local living here = A degree in Communication from Simon Fraser is nothing to get that excited about. The GPA entrance requirements/expectation to graduate for SFU is much lower than entrance into state U = UBC, or U of Toronto where entrance admissions is 90 average or above.
Many who didn’t make it in Singapore or even after graduating from the 2 yr private colleges here, eventually got accepted into SFU as opposed to UBC … for Vancouver.
SFU is nowhere on the same calibre as say NY Parsons (where it’s competitive audition to get in) or the top Ivy League unis.
Now wait a minute! Parsons School of Design is on par with the Ivy League? Not by a long shot. LOL!!
I think this Asian fascination with name brand schools is one colossal waste of time and a delusion from reality.To all the Jobs, Gates, and Zuckbergs of the world, this retarded and shallow fixation with higher education is road map toward real life failures.
@aiya
I know, you can say they are a bit educated compares to actresses but not HIGHLY educated. Lol
Parsons is probably better than FIT but nowhere comparable to Ivy leagues.
Michelle woman went to school n rich ? haha lol..
it is surprisingly true that guy hit the jackpot then.
Janice is smart too? Wow lol
@kiki There are only eight Ivy leagues universities in the whole U.S and the number is fixed. A bit unfair say the actresses are not highly educated just because they did not study in one of these 8 universities.
Since when Grace is considered a “superstar”? I can agree about Kelly and idk about the rest of the ladies. Been to or graduated from college doesn’t mean you’re smart or even smarter than average joe. You’re just fortunate enough to pay and go to one.
Side note: These scools are hardly ivy league. However, HK aren’t the only one obsessed with prestige universities. Though there are successful business tycoons who didn’t even grad HS, US is still very big on ‘brand name’ colleges. They do te d to have better connection or partnership with businesses who can help the student gets a job after graduation.
@jjwong
LOL…EXACTLY. I always say this as well. Having a piece of paper does NOT make a person smarter than the average joe but of course it’s always better to have that piece of paper than NOT but whether they are intelligent has nothing to do w/that pc of paper.
Well, the title says HIGHLY EDUCATED not smart so I guess there’s a difference? LOL….
I guess they are comparing to mostly no degree actresses/actors in showbiz I mean those schools listed are NOWHERE in par w/the IVYs. No way!!
Anyway, back to the intelligent subject, I once had a dude from HK who came for schooling only, he’s illegal I guess you can say but he can only state in the States if he’s continuingly in school. He does tedious fashion work, papework and he went to “college’ from Bachelors to Masters degree but you know he’s dump as **** I am NOT kidding so I am so w/having a deg does not make any individual smart. Some probably didn’t even attend college and makes more than one who did.
@kiki In the body of the article, it mentioned “not only have brains and beauty…” and I associated brains to smart, hence my comment about having a degree doesn’t mean they’re smart.
I used to know a guy (who funnily enough came from HK too) who was still in college as a ‘sophmore-standing’ when I graduated, which was almost 5 years. He wasn’t the sharpest tag in the mix but he knew who to gain the system. He only did the minimium (least # of class to be consider as full time student, pass class with C, so forht) so he can stay in the US too. He wasn’t illegal as long as you can get the V1 or V9 or something like that Visa. He wasn’t suppose to work unless it’s school sponsored or internship for the degree or something like that, but he did take some “off the books’ job xD
@jjwong Your point is well taken.
Just look at Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerber, three extremely smart individuals with no college degrees.
@aiya These three extremely smart individuals – keyword; extremely smart. Unless you have a plan that you are brave enough to do and earn billions and change the world, stick to getting a college degree. THese 3 did not get their degrees because they flunk but because they have much better things to do than studying for degrees and time has proven their choice.
Yes degree is not the most important thing, expecially if you’re an actor or singer where looks is and connection is and talent is. For everything else, degree is important as a stepping stone to the job market. Whoever that tells you otherwise is lying. Education is very important, unless you have a better plan for your future or you’re so stupid you can’t even graduate so then stop wasting money, time and effort and just go out and work. But do remember, no degree means start at the very very bottom of the job scale.
Oh, professionals still need degree.
@aiya Agree with @funnlim. Steve Jobs, Bill Gates, and Mark Zuckerber are exceptional individuals. We can’t use their lack of degree as argument that degrees are not important.
Most of us mere mortals will need to have a cert to get a good job unless you want to be an entrepreneur and start your own thing. But the majority of people will end up being a salaryman when we enter the job market.
this article is ridiculous. Grace Chan should not even be mentioned. She hasnt been long in the industry to warrant to be included in such a list.
There are rumors flying about Lin Chiling being seen on the Celebrity Prostitution black book.
I hope news of her rich family background will finally stop such bad rumors. The lady does not need it.
Michelle Chen did not not graduate top of her class, although she has claimed that she did get good grades. Also, she concentrated in Marketing, not Business Administration (although Marshall in general is the business school at USC).
@boafriend
That’s the media’s exaggeration on everything I suppose. It’s always like that but these colleges/universities are not even IVY and to flaunt about but due to asian celebrities most of them did not even attend college, i guess it’s a big deal to them. If you look at Americans, most of the celebrities have degrees and it’s nothing to report about on the news.
@kiki
University of Toronto ranked top 20 in world ranking, higher than some of the Ivy league university. New York University is also quite high up in the ranking (top 40).
There are very few ivy league universities and just because not ivy league doesn’t mean no good. As long as they did not buy their degrees, it is fine.