Janet Hsieh (; born January 20, 1980) is a

Taiwanese-American Taiwanese Americans () are Americans who carry full or partial ancestry from Taiwan. This includes American-born citizens who descend from migrants from Taiwan. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, 49% of Taiwanese Americans lived in the state of Califo ...

television personality, violinist, author, and model based in

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the n ...

Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia, at the junction of the East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocean, with the People's Republic of China (PRC) to the northwest, Japan to the nort ...

. She is the host of the

Discovery Travel and Living Discovery Travel & Living is a defunct channel brand from Discovery Communications. This name was used in countries of Europe, Latin America and Asia. In other parts of the world the channel is known as Travel and Living Channel. It features trav ...

Channel's long-running series ''

Fun Taiwan ''Fun Taiwan'' is a long-running Taiwanese travel program hosted by Taiwanese-American Janet Hsieh and airing on Discovery's TLC Asia. It began production in 2005, and is currently in its 16th season. Past guests have included host Armando Reed ...

''.Taiwan Tourism Bureau.
Janet Hsieh, Host of the Popular Local Travel Show "Fun Taiwan" Shares Her Taiwan Experience
" Retrieved 10 September 2013. The program is currently in its 13th season and has expanded to include ''Fun Asia'' and ''Fun Taiwan Challenge''. She has been nominated four times for the Taiwanese

Golden Bell Awards The Golden Bell Awards () is an annual Taiwanese television and radio production award presented in October or November each year by the Bureau of Audiovisual and Music Industry Development, a division of Taiwan's Ministry of Culture. It is th ...

as Best Host of a Travel Program, and once for Best Host of a Variety Program.Janet returns to MIT
/ref>

Early life and education

Hsieh was born on January 20, 1980 in

Houston Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 in ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

, where she was raised. Her father hails from

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 ...

and her mother from

. She has one elder sister. She graduated from Bellaire Senior High School in 1997. In 2001, Hsieh graduated from the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the ...

with a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University of ...

degree in Biology and Spanish.Toh, Christophe
"Jetsetting with Janet Hsieh"
,''TODAY online'', Dec 04, 2010. Retrieved on 12/02/2011. During her time at MIT, she was a member of the

Alpha Chi Omega Alpha Chi Omega (, also known as Alpha Chi or A Chi O) is a national women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. As of 2018, there are 132 collegiate and 279 alumnae chapters represented across the United States, and the fraternity counts ...

women's fraternity and served on the university's Ring Committee, the group responsible for designing the

MIT class ring Massachusetts Institute of Technology's class ring, often called the Brass Rat, is a commemorative ring for the graduating class of students at MIT. The ring is redesigned each year by a committee of MIT students. The class ring has three main se ...

.Jill Hecht Maxwell (18 June 2013)
Janet Hsieh '01: Television host's star is rising in Asia
''MIT News Magazine. ''Retrieved 10 September 2013. She also ran the Boston Marathon during this time.Shao-Fei Moy (23 April 1999)
The 103rd Boston Marathon
(pdf) ''The Tech''. Retrieved 10 September 2013. She also studied at the

Universidad de Buenos Aires The University of Buenos Aires ( es, Universidad de Buenos Aires, UBA) is a public research university in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Established in 1821, it is the premier institution of higher learning in the country and one of the most prestigi ...

in Argentina and at the

University of California, Los Angeles The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...

in California. Hsieh commands

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

(native speaker), French,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

, and

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of ...

with fluency in

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

and

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, ...

Career

Volunteer and EMT

After graduation from college, Hsieh spent time in

Jamshedpur Jamshedpur (, ) or Tatanagar is the largest and most populous city in Jharkhand and the first planned industrial city in India. It is a Notified Area Council and Municipal Corporation and also the headquarter of the East Singhbhum district. It ...

as a community outreach volunteer. She also received certification as an EMT from Boston EMS/MIT, and in September 2001 went to Taiwan for a medical residential internship,Fun Taiwan's Janet Hsieh
, ''Clive Magazine'',Updated: 01/07/2009 where she completed a six-month stint at

Taipei Veterans General Hospital Taipei Veterans General Hospital () is a national first-class medical center and a teaching hospital that provides tertiary patient care, undergraduate medical education programs and residency programs in Taiwan. It was founded in 1958 and admin ...

in Tienmu. She also worked in India in the city of Jamshedpur for Tata Steel.

Modeling

In 2002, at the end of her medical internship, Hsieh met Jeff Huang of the Taiwanese rap group

L.A. Boyz L.A. Boyz was a Taiwanese pop/rap group composed of brothers Jeff Huang (黃立成, Huang Licheng) and Stanley Huang (黃立行, Huang Lixing), and their cousin Steven Lin (林智文) formed circa 1991. They are considered to be the first rap ...

, as well as rising star

Vanness Wu Vanness Wu (; born August 7, 1978) is a Taiwanese-American singer and actor. He is a member of the Taiwanese boyband F4 and the Korean Mandopop duo Kangta & Vanness. Early life Wu was born in Santa Monica, California. He learned to breakda ...

outside the popular Taipei nightclub, Room 18. On recommendations from Huang and Wu, Hsieh auditioned for being taller than other women, eventually landing an underwear commercial.Catherine Shu (26 August 2010
"Janet Takes Off"
''Taipei Times.'' Retrieved 10 September 2013.

Television

In 2005, Hsieh auditioned for a new

television series exploring the island of Taiwan, entitled

. Since landing the role, she has been nominated four times for Best Host in a Travel Program at the

, achieving a win in 2011, and has been one of the longest running series on

Discovery Channel Discovery Channel (known as The Discovery Channel from 1985 to 1995, and often referred to as simply Discovery) is an American cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a publicly traded company run by CEO David Zaslav. , Discovery Channe ...

TLC (Asia) TLC is a Southeast Asian pay television channel that was launched in June 2001 as Discovery Travel & Adventure. It was the third channel launched by Warner Bros. Discovery in the region. It was initially focused on providing travel-related enterta ...

Music

Hsieh learned to play the violin at age five and was part of the Texas Young Virtuosos, who played at the White House for President George Bush and in Europe.Koh, Bernar
"But I speak only five languages"
,''The Straits Times'', Mon, Jun 02, 2008. Retrieved on 12/02/2011.Janet Hsieh to perform violin at a music concert in Taipei January 27, 2011 – trio ''Janet, Jean & Mareill''
/ref> In Taiwan, she has performed three concerts at the National Concert Hall, twice in 2011 and again in 2013. She also played as one of 4,645 participants at Changhua Stadium in 2011, joining Changhua County youth to set a Guinness World Record for "Largest Violin Ensemble."

Author

Hsieh published her first Chinese-language travel book, ''Traveling with 100 Toothbrushes'', in 2010. She has since published two additional travel-related titles, ''Backpack to the Future'' and ''Au for You'', as well as two English learning books, ''Janet's Funtastic English'' and j@net.com. In 2016, Hsieh and her husband George Young co-authored the book ''Starting at The End'' (Chinese language title: "在世界的盡頭說：我願意"). The book shares their sometimes conflicting stories on how they met, as well as their fifty-day journey through

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, and through to their wedding in

Antarctica Antarctica () is Earth's southernmost and least-populated continent. Situated almost entirely south of the Antarctic Circle and surrounded by the Southern Ocean, it contains the geographic South Pole. Antarctica is the fifth-largest contine ...

Personal life

Hsieh married George Young in January 2015. They have two sons, one born in 2017 and the other in 2021. Hsieh holds a black belt in

Taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

and is a trained

sushi is a Japanese cuisine, Japanese dish of prepared , usually with some sugar and salt, accompanied by a variety of , such as seafood, often raw, and vegetables. Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is " ...

chef and circus performer.

Filmography

Television

Hsieh has served as the host of numerous programs on

, including ''

'', as well as programs on local Taiwanese television networks, such as ''Aqua Challenge''.

Film

* ''Big Three Dragons'' (2019) * Frozen, as

Anna Anna may refer to: People Surname and given name * Anna (name) Mononym * Anna the Prophetess, in the Gospel of Luke * Anna (wife of Artabasdos) (fl. 715–773) * Anna (daughter of Boris I) (9th–10th century) * Anna (Anisia) (fl. 1218 to 12 ...

(Taiwanese Mandarin voiceover) * Traversal 101 (2013), as Xiao Na * Big Brother Ohaev (2007), as Jenny * ''

A Bread Factory ''A Bread Factory'' is a 2018 American two-part indie comedy drama film written and directed by Patrick Wang. It features an ensemble cast and depicts a fictional community arts center in a small upstate New York town that struggles under econo ...

'' (2018), as May

Music videos

* Sneezing by Yen-j (2012) * 3 Idiots by Mayday (2011) * What's Wrong with Rock?! by

Leehom Wang Wang Leehom (; born May 17, 1976), sometimes credited as Leehom Wang, is an American singer-songwriter, actor, producer, and film director. Formally trained at Eastman School of Music, Williams College and Berklee College of Music, his music i ...

(2008) * Setting You Free by Nicky Lee (2005) Janet Hsieh at chinesemov.com
/ref>

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hsieh, Janet Living people 1980 births American people of Taiwanese descent American women musicians of Chinese descent People from Houston American female taekwondo practitioners American television hosts American models of Taiwanese descent American violinists American people of Chinese descent 21st-century violinists American women television presenters 21st-century American women