Karena Lam Kar-Yan
Acting • Born 1978-08-17
Biography
Karena 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. Her film debut in 2002 changed all this and propelled her to real stardom. Karena starred in three successful Hong Kong films in the same year, winning the awards of Best Supporting Actress and Best New Performer for her role in July Rhapsody directed by Ann Hui (at the 2002 Hong Kong Film Awards) and for Inner Senses by Lo Chi Leung (at the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards), gaining her recognition as a talented young actress and marking the start of her film career. In recent months she has been taking on much more challenging roles, as witnessed in the 2005 horror film Home Sweet Home, where she plays an insane and horribly deformed "phantom" monster who kidnaps a boy from his genetic mother to claim as its own, and was nominated for major awards again.
Filmography
44 credits
Red Line
Movie • 2023
Wang Le's wife
American Girl
Movie • 2021
Lily Wang
Bad Acting
Movie • 2020
Silk
Movie • 2006
Wei
Beyond the Sin
Movie • 2025
Bo Kwan
Koma
Movie • 2004
Suen Ling
Tiramisu
Movie • 2002
Jane Chan
Tales from the Occult: Body and Soul
Movie • 2023
Anna & Anna
Movie • 2007
Anna / Siyu
Fit Lover
Movie • 2008
Nie Bing
Lover's Discourse
Movie • 2010
Nancy
It Had To Be You
Movie • 2005
Jill
Heroic Duo
Movie • 2003
Brenda
Don Quixote
Movie • 2010
Sang Cuihua
Dragon Blade
Movie • 2015
July Rhapsody
Movie • 2002
Woo Choy-lam
Inner Senses
Movie • 2002
Cheung Yan
Worth the Wait
Movie • 2025
Teresa
Man on the Edge
Movie • 2022
Mrs Lam
Kidnap
Movie • 2007
Lam Hiu Yeung
Mob Sister
Movie • 2005
Nova
Super Model
Movie • 2004
Inspector Karena Zhang
Tales of Taipei
Movie • 2024
Yu (segment "Breeder")
Claustrophobia
Movie • 2008
Pearl
Home Sweet Home
Movie • 2005
Yim Hung
Candy Rain
Movie • 2008
Ricky
The Floating Landscape
Movie • 2003
Maan
Customs Frontline
Movie • 2024
Athena Siu
Moon Wall
Movie • 2004
Truth or Dare : 6th Floor Rear Flat
Movie • 2003
Karena
Zinnia Flower
Movie • 2015
Ming
Daughter's Daughter
Movie • 2024
Emma
Happy Funeral
Movie • 2008
Karena
Keeper of Darkness
Movie • 2015
Fatt's Mother
Heaven in the Dark
Movie • 2016
Michelle
Let the Wind Carry Me
Movie • 2009
Self
The Liquidator
Movie • 2017
Wei Wei
The White Storm 2: Drug Lords
Movie • 2019
Chow Man-fung
Integrity
Movie • 2019
Kong Suet Yee
Legally Declared Dead
Movie • 2019
Shum Chi Ling
Six Strong Guys
Movie • 2004
丁丁
On the Road (Sr. 1)
TV • 2006
Golden Horse Awards
TV • 1962
Self
Keep Running
TV • 2014