Sunny Chen
Sunny Chen is a Canadian actor, singer-songwriter, and filmmaker. At 6 years old, Sunny immigrated to Canada's beautiful west coast from Nanjing, and was raised in Langley, BC. As a teen, she toured North America with their school choirs and concert band. At 17, she moved to unceded Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh lands AKA Vancouver, and completed their BA in psychology and English literature at the University of British Columbia.
Sunny won the lead in Karin Lee's period drama Ts'ekoo Cha Ke: The Girl with Big Feet, playing a 1st generation Chinese Canadian settler in the late 1800s. For this complex role, Sunny prepared her dialogue in Toisan (a Chinese language from southern Guangdong province) and Chinook (an Indigenous Pacific Northwest trade language). She also worked on the CW's Supergirl (2015), Lifetime's A Sweet Christmas Romance (2019), and ABC's A Million Little Things (2018). Sunny portrayed "Lisa" in Cheer Squad Secrets (2020).
Available on all streaming platforms as "Sad China", their debut studio album <i>ilyimy</i> (2021) blends hyperpop with alternative R&B, featuring Jerry Yang, Khamisa Wilsher, and more up-and-coming Canadian talent. An emerging filmmaker, Sunny writes, directs, and/or produces Open Ethnicity (2021), as well as music videos like Sad China: hum1n (2021) and Sad China: Ocean Girl (2018). Their mindfulness short film "here" (2021) exhibited at Latitude 53 for <i>the soil between plants</i>. The multidisciplinary artist enjoys dancing, lifelong friendships, singing to wildlife, sunset skates, and watching Netflix. Sunny looks forward to every storytelling opportunity, and advocates for equity and diverse representation in media.
