He grew up mostly in Foster City in the Bay Area, went to San Mateo High School and attended U.C.

After graduating from college, he moved to Taiwan in 2001 where he obtained a job working for director Edward Yang, who he describes “is kind of a family friend.”[1] It was this experience working in Taiwan cinema that reaffirmed his interest in film-making.

[3] Chen went on to work on his first feature-length film, Au Revoir Taipei, which he both directed and wrote.

(明天記得愛上我), starring Richie Jen and Mavis Fan, and which he also both directed and wrote.

His latest film is the 2022 romantic comedy drama Mama Boy (初戀慢半拍), which he also both directed and co-wrote, and starring Kai Ko and Vivian Hsu.

Chen has directed several music videos for singer-songwriter Dawen (王大文), including "Beautiful"[10] and "Acid Rain.