[2] She is commonly referred to as MediaCorp's first "Ah Jie" (senior actress)[3] for being among the first locally trained artistes and has been in the entertainment industry for more than 29 years.

It was her role as "Ah Mei", love interest of Huang Wenyong's character "Ah Shui", in the 1984 blockbuster drama series The Awakening that propelled her to fame, evidenced by the fact that she and Huang were named among the "Top 5 Favourite On-Screen Partners" and "Top 5 Most Memorable Drama Characters" of the last 25 years at the Star Awards 2007 anniversary special.

Chen made her theatrical debut as the female lead Li Qing in December Rains, written by veteran songwriter Liang Wern Fook and Jimmy Ye.

[7] She returned to television in 2000 and has since been cast in major roles in many of MediaCorp's large-scale productions, such as Double Happiness, Portrait of Home, The Little Nyonya and Kinship.

They first met on the set of Patrol and married after a whirlwind romance, which drew much media attention as unpublicised celebrity marriages were uncommon in the local entertainment industry at that time.