Charles "Blackie" Chen or Chen Chien-chou (born 2 May 1977 in

Kaohsiung Kaohsiung City (Mandarin Chinese: ; Wade–Giles: ''Kao¹-hsiung²;'' Pinyin: ''Gāoxióng'') is a special municipality located in southern Taiwan. It ranges from the coastal urban center to the rural Yushan Range with an area of . Kaohsi ...

) is a

Taiwanese Taiwanese may refer to: * Taiwanese language, another name for Taiwanese Hokkien * Something from or related to Taiwan ( Formosa) * Taiwanese aborigines, the indigenous people of Taiwan * Han Taiwanese, the Han people of Taiwan * Taiwanese people, ...

television host, actor, basketball manager, entrepreneur, and a former basketball player. He is also the founder and current

chief executive officer A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...

of the Taiwanese professional basketball league P. League+.

Career

Basketball

Chen Chien-chou made the Chinese Taipei junior national team when he was 18 and played in the

1995 ABC Under-18 Championship The ABC Under-18 Championship 1995 is the 13th edition of the ABC's junior championship for basketball. The games were held at Manila, Philippines from March 3–11, 1995. Preliminary round Group A Group B Group C Group ...

, where they finished 5th. Although only 190 cm (short for even Taiwanese basketball player standards), Chen played in the paint. He modeled his game after

Charles Barkley Charles Wade Barkley (born February 20, 1963) is an American former professional basketball player who is a television analyst on TNT. Nicknamed "Sir Charles", "Chuck", and "the Round Mound of Rebound", Barkley played 16 seasons in the Natio ...

, also an undersized big man (hence his English name of "Charles Chen"). In 1999, after missing the cut for the Chinese Taipei national basketball team, he played for the B national team at the

William Jones Cup The R. William Jones Cup (), also known as the Jones Cup, is an international basketball tournament organized by the Chinese Taipei Basketball Association (CTBA) held annually since 1977 in Taiwan. It was named in honor of basketball promoter ...

. Later, playing for a club in the Singaporean league (where he led the league in scoring and rebounding), he tore his

anterior cruciate ligament The anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) is one of a pair of cruciate ligaments (the other being the posterior cruciate ligament) in the human knee. The two ligaments are also called "cruciform" ligaments, as they are arranged in a crossed formation ...

for the second time in an accident. His basketball career ended prematurely as a result. In 2020, along with

Taipei Fubon Braves The Taipei Fubon Braves () are a professional basketball team, that currently plays in the Taiwanese P. League+, since the league's foundation in 2020. From 2014 to 2019, they played in the semi-professional Super Basketball League (SBL). They ...

, Formosa Dreamers,

Hsinchu Lioneers Hsinchu JKO Lioneers (Chinese: 新竹街口攻城獅) is a professional basketball team based in Hsinchu County, Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South Chin ...

, and Taoyuan Airape, he founded a Taiwanese professional basketball league, P. League+, serving as the CEO and founder.

Entertainment

Chen became a performing artist, and a host of numerous

variety shows Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compèr ...

. Because of his dark skin, he has come to be known by the nickname "Blackie", it is also because the name rhymes with

Jackie Chan Fang Shilong (born 7 April 1954), known professionally in English as Jackie Chan and in Chinese as Cheng Long ( zh, c=成龍, j=Sing4 Lung4; "becoming the dragon"), is a Hong Kong actor, filmmaker, martial artist, and stuntman known for ...

, in which they both are trained in

judo is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyclopedia Nipponi ...

, which Blackie obtained a blue belt. He has been in a relationship with

Christine Fan Christine Fan (born March 18, 1976), better known by her stage name FanFan or her Chinese name Fan Wei-chi, is a Taiwanese singer-songwriter, TV presenter, record producer, actress, author and philanthropist. She sings mostly in Mandarin, but ha ...

for 10 years, before finally getting engaged in 2010. They were married in Taipei on May 7, 2011. Currently the team leader and head of marketing for the Taiwan Beer Basketball Team, Chen directed a 2008 documentary entitled Attitude () on the team's quest to become

Super Basketball League The Super Basketball League (超級籃球聯賽), often abbreviated as the SBL, is a semi-professional men's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Taiwan. Current clubs Currently, there are four teams competing in the SBL. They are ...

champion. The documentary was well received and earned him widespread acclaim and accolades from the Taiwanese film industry. Many consider it the high-water mark of Taiwanese sports related documentary films. Chen is also a television personality and host for several television shows. He is slated to play

Peng Dehuai Peng Dehuai (; October 24, 1898November 29, 1974) was a prominent Chinese Communist military leader, who served as China's Defense Minister from 1954 to 1959. Peng was born into a poor peasant family, and received several years of primary edu ...

in the highly anticipated miniseries

Untold Stories of 1949 ''Big River, Big Sea — Untold Stories of 1949'' () is a collection of stories written by Taiwanese author Lung Ying-tai published in August 2009. It tells in detail, the events from the surrounding the conclusion of the Chinese Civil War includin ...

, to be produced for HBO Asia. Chen, along with his wife

, are also the co-founder and spokespeople for the Love Life campaign, after becoming a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

, as influenced by her mother-in-law while Christine was recovering from severe depression and mild anorexia.

Filmography

Film

Television series

Variety show host

* Channel Pai Pai Zou () *

asia+ Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an area ...

Trivia Party * Channel Hei Se Hui Mei Mei() * Channel - 青春全员集合 * Sanlih E-Television - 超級接班人

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chen, Blackie 1977 births Living people Taiwanese people of Hakka descent People from Meixian District Taiwanese male film actors Taiwanese men's basketball players Sportspeople from Kaohsiung VJs (media personalities) Hakka musicians Hakka sportspeople 21st-century Taiwanese male actors Male actors from Kaohsiung Taiwan Beer basketball players Super Basketball League players