A former member of boy band group F4, Yan is known for his lead role as Daoming Si in the Taiwanese drama Meteor Garden and its sequel.

After the series' conclusion, Jerry and the other cast members of Meteor Garden; Vic Chou, Vanness Wu and Ken Chu continued to perform together and released three studio albums as the quartet boy band F4.

The same year, he starred in the Hong Kong romantic comedy Magic Kitchen alongside Andy Lau and Sammi Cheng, marking his film debut.

In 2008, Jerry starred in the sports comedy Hot Shot alongside Wu Chun of Fahrenheit and Show Lo.

He then held a solo concert in Japan; Due to high demand, two additional shows were added.

He then released his third album, My Secret Lover, which included soundtracks of The Hospital and Hot Shot sung by Jerry.

The series reached 100 million views on Youku, and topped the ratings charts for numerous weeks.

[10] In 2014, Jerry starred in the romance melodrama Loving, Never Forgetting opposite Chinese actress Tong Liya, playing a single father.

[11] The same year, he starred in the Japanese heist film Lupin III: Necklace of Cleopatra based on the manga of the same name alongside Shun Oguri, the lead actor of the Japanese version of Meteor Garden, and Kim Joon, one of the lead actors of the Korean version of Meteor Garden.

[12] In 2015, Jerry made a special appearance in the highly popular youth movie Our Times as the adult version of the male protagonist, Xu Taiyu.