Rene Liu Ruo-ying (Chinese: 劉若英; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Lâu Jio̍k-eng; born 1 June, 1969) is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, actress, director and writer. In the Sinophone world, Liu is widely known by her affectionate nickname "Milk Tea".Her music often focuses on love stories and has built an image around herself as a single woman. She is known for her mature, professional, urbane, single woman persona.
She has released 20 albums since 1995 and held hundreds of solo concerts worldwide. She has also had a remarkable acting career, having won numerous awards throughout Asia including Best Actress twice at the Asia-Pacific Film Festival.
Rene Liu was born in Taipei City, Taiwan on June 1, 1969. She was born to an affluent family in Taipei. Her family from Liling, Hunan. Her grandfather served as a Class 1 general in the Army of the Nationalist Party of Taiwan. Liu's parents divorced when she was young and she grew up in her grandparents' house. In college, Liu attended California State University and has a bachelor's degree in music.
After returning to Taiwan from her studies in the USA, Liu became the assistant of Bobby Chen (Chen Sheng), a pop music composer, producer, and singer. The two began working together for the release of Liu's album in 1995, with Chen as her music producer.
In 2012, Liu directed her first short film, "Love Limited Edition," where she wrote, produced, directed, and starred in. The film was released on December 18, 2012 and the story is about a woman embarking on a romantic trip to Paris alone, and her introspection and growth towards an understanding of love while traveling. This was the first project that she completed alone during her trip to Paris in 2010.
In 2018, Liu made her directorial debut with her film, Us and Them, a story is about two strangers who meet on a train and fall in love. Their struggles led to their breakup, but 10 years later, they reunite and pick up their story. Us and Them started out as a short story written by Rene Liu and eventually adapted into a movie. The Netflix original film was a huge success in the Chinese box office, making Rene Liu the highest grossing female director for Chinese films. The film became the fifth highest-grossing Chinese movie in 2018, making $157 million in revenue.
Personal life
On August 8, 2011, Rene Liu married businessman Zhong Xiaojiang (Zhong Shi) in Beijing. In 2015, she gave birth to a son.
