Chen moved from her hometown of Chengdu to the US as a teenager, going on to study business. She started taking part in beauty pageants to help her pay her way through college, which provided an entry into the TV world, and she subsequently moved to Hong Kong to start her acting career with broadcaster TVB. She rose to prominence with roles in shows such as Moonlight Resonance (2008), Queens of Diamonds and Hearts (2011) and Triumph in the Skies II (2013), as well as movies such as Turning Point (2009). However, frustrated with the repetitive nature of the roles she was asked to play, she made the dramatic decision to restart her career, moving back to the US and enrolling for the four-year master of fine arts in drama programme at Juilliard School in 2014, a process she describes as one of unlearning as much as learning.

After graduating, it took her a year to find her first role, but since then she’s been busy with everything from starring in the Marvel superhero blockbuster Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021) to acclaimed TV miniseries The Undoing (2020) and Irma Vep (2022). In 2024 Chen appeared in Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire.

She is married to tech entrepreneur Emmanuel Straschnov, with whom she has two children.