Rui En


Lu Rui En, better known by her stage name Rui En, is a Singaporean actress and was named as one of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp in 2006. She was contracted under MediaCorp and managed under Hype Records.
In 2001, Rui En was talent-spotted after appearing in a SingTel hi!Card commercial as the "running girl". She was offered a contract by Artiste Networks, which is under Hype Records, a record label company based in Singapore. In 2002, Rui En debuted her acting career with her first drama, No Problem!. In late 2002, Rui En launched her music career in Taiwan, with the album Rui ∑n vol. 01, distributed by Alfa Music. Rui En released her second album in Singapore under Hype Records, titled United Nations, in late 2008.
Rui En first won the 'Best Actress Award' at the Singapore Star Awards 2011 with her role as a young widow in With You, the highest-rated Singapore drama in year 2010. Rui En was awarded the 'Best Actress in Leading Role' at the 2012 Asian Television Awards, for her role as a tough cop in crime drama Unriddle 2. She went on to win her third acting award in the following year at the Star Awards 2013 for the same role in Unriddle 2, earning her second 'Best Actress Award' at Star Awards.
In 2013, Rui En was appointed the spokesperson for L'Oréal Paris Youth Code, making her the first Singaporean spokesperson for the international cosmetics brand.

Life and career

Education

Rui En studied at Singapore Chinese Girls' School for both her primary and secondary education. She took up ballet as a co-curricular activity in Primary Five but gave up in Secondary One, citing the pressure of coming from a wrong socio-economic class as the reason. She then joined the choir in Secondary Three and Four.
She completed her A Levels at the pre-tertiary education in Raffles Junior College, in which she won the championship in National Schools’ Hockey Tournament. Despite claiming to be her Chinese teacher's worst nightmare because she was never good in her Chinese, Rui En penned all the lyrics to her second Chinese album, titled United Nations.
Rui En graduated from Nanyang Technological University with a Bachelor of Business in 2004, specialising in Banking and Finance. In 2007, Rui En was presented with the "Nanyang Outstanding Young People Award" by her alma mater Nanyang Technological University.

Early life

In December 2001, Rui En did an interview with The Straits Times. She confessed that she used to smoke and drink occasionally, and how she grew up feeling weird as the only child in her broken family. Her parents subsequently divorced when she was seventeen.

Music career

Rui En ventured into Taiwan in 2002 with the stage name 芮恩. She made her first appearance as the female lead in label mate Jay Chou's music video for "Secret Sign" and went on to co-endorse Panasonic GD68 with him. Rui En subsequently released her debut regional Chinese album, Rui ∑n vol. 01, in the same year under the co-production of Hype Records and Alfa Music. Chou composed the song "White Feather" for her debut album, Rui ∑n vol. 01'.
Rui En was nominated as the Best Local Singer in the Singapore Hits Awards 2003 and was selected alongside Taufik Batisah to perform both the English and Mandarin versions of the 2005 National Day Parade's theme song – "Reach Out for the Skies".
After a six years' break, Rui En released her second Chinese album in late 2008 under Hype Records, titled
United Nations. This album was only released in Singapore, with all lyrics penned by Rui En herself. Since then, she resumed the use of her original name, 瑞恩. In April 2009, Rui En was invited to perform at Singapore Day 2009 at London's Hampton Court Palace, a yearly event organised by the Overseas Singaporean Unit'' in the Prime Minister's Office to engage overseas Singaporeans.

Acting career

Rui En made her acting debut in MediaCorp drama, No Problem, in 2002. She landed her first leading role in 2005, with A Promise for Tomorrow. In the following year, she was identified as one of the most promising young actresses in the Singapore Entertainment Industry by local entertainment magazine I-Weekly and was hence labelled as one of the Seven Princesses of Mediacorp.
After playing a social service worker and AIDS patient in By My Side, Rui En started to gain recognition, winning one of the eight 'Top 8 Likable Female Lead Characters' awards with her only production that year at the 2009 televised countdown event. In 2010, Rui En was labelled as one of the 10 Faces to watch in 2010 by MediaCorp's Buzz. Rui En also won several awards for the characters she portrayed, for instance her role as Zhang Luoyun in My School Daze which emerged as the 'Top 10 Favourite Female Characters' in Star Awards 2010, and Lin Jiaqi in The Dream Catchers which emerged as the 'Top 5 Favourite Female Characters'. In 2011, Rui En won the 'Most Favourite Female Character' award with her role as Yang Xiaodong . Rui En was also credited for her outstanding performance in portraying a widow in With You, winning the 'Best Actress' award in Star Awards 2011.
Rui En received the All-Time Favourite Artiste award in the 2016 star awards after winning the Top 10 Most Popular Male Artistes award from 2005 to 2016 respectively with Qi Yu Wu.
In addition to her roles in dramas, Rui En has starred in a three-part docudrama produced by Channel NewsAsia, as one of Singapore's pioneer painters, Georgette Chen. The English-language series, which was also adapted into Mandarin, aired on Channel NewsAsia, MediaCorp Channel 5 and MediaCorp Channel 8 in April 2015.

Controversies

Role rejection

In March 2008, Rui En was involved in a high-profile rejection of the role as an ambitious businesswoman struggling with mental illness in The Defining Moment, which subsequently went to Fann Wong instead. She was reported to have rejected the role due to a rape scene in the script. Rui En is known to be firm on her stance against intimate, revealing or kissing scenes and has been criticised by some as unprofessional. She is reported to have been blacklisted by some producers after this role-rejection incident.

2016 traffic violations

On 13 April 2016, Rui En was involved in a car accident entering a carpark near her home. Her car knocked over a stationary motorcycle. On 14 April it was reported that Rui En was assisting the police with investigations into the accident She subsequently apologised and responded with an official statement regarding the accident. The owner of the motorcycle accepted Rui En's apology through Wanbao on 15 April. For this incident, Rui En was fined S$700.
In January 2016, Rui En was also involved in a hit and run accident. There were no casualties involved, and both parties agreed to make a private settlement.
After the incident, at 12pm on 23 December, Rui En flouted traffic rules after she drove straight on a Right Turn Only Lane in Orchard road, then cutting into the second lane. The incident was captured by the car camera of the oncoming vehicle on the second lane, which she had cut into. According to a video uploaded on Beh Chia Lor's Facebook page, the other car's driver was approaching a cross junction and slowed his vehicle to about 30 km/h when Rui En's car jumped his lane and overtook his vehicle.
The 35-year-old celebrity apologised for her actions.

Community work

Rui En is the theme song singer for The Community Chest of Singapore. The song, titled "Listen to Your Heart", has been released in the form of EP in years 2003 and 2009.
She is also a regular volunteer at "Beyond Social Services".
She has also volunteered for several children welfare organizations. Notably, in 2016, she volunteered her services together with her fan club to commemorate their 9th anniversary.
Her fanclub, RBKD does regular volunteering service to the elderly, Chinese New Year, being one of the occasions.

Discography

Solo albums

Filmography

YearDramaRoleNotes
2020Mr Flower
:zh:花花公子(电视剧)|花花公子
Chen Huiling
陈慧玲

2019Old Is Gold: The Bliss Keeper 老友万岁之守护幸福Han Xinxin
韩欣欣

2019Old Is Gold 老友万岁Han Xinxin
韩欣欣

  • Pairs up with Xu Bin
  • Daughter Of Chen Li Ping
  • Siblings with Edwin Goh
  • 1st female lead
  • 130 episodes, long-running drama
2019 Hello From The Other Side 阴错阳差Ma Ruyin
马如荫

2017Have A Little Faith 相信我Liang Sijie
梁思洁

2016C.L.I.F. 4 警徽天职4Huang Zhijie
黄芷婕

2016If Only I Could 十年...你还好吗?Chen Zhenhao
陈珍好

2015The Dream Makers II 志在四方IIFang Tonglin
方彤琳

2015' 信约: 我们的家园Yang Meixue
杨美雪

  • Pairs up with Shaun Chen
  • 1/3 of female co-leads
2015Life Is Beautiful 初一的心愿Shen Chuyi
沈初一

2014Against The Tide 逆潮Qiu Xueqing
邱雪清

2014C.L.I.F. 3 警徽天职3Huang Zhijie
黄芷婕

  • Pairs up with Li Nanxing
  • 1/3 of female co-leads
2013Sudden 骤变Cheng Chuning
程楚宁

2013The Dream Makers 志在四方Fang Tonglin
方彤琳

  • Pairs up with Qi Yuwu
  • Siblings with Dennis Chew
  • 1/4 of female co-leads
2013C.L.I.F. 2 警徽天职2Huang Zhijie
黄芷婕

  • Pairs up with Li Nanxing & Pierre Png
  • 1st female lead
2012Poetic Justice 微笑正义Liu Yanzhi
刘言之

2012Joys of Life 花样人间Han Yongyong
韩咏咏

2012Unriddle 2 最火搭档2Hu Xiaoman
胡小曼

  • Pairs up with Elvin Ng
  • 1/2 of female co-leads
2011On the Fringe 2011 边缘父子Lin Shasha
林莎莎

  • 2nd female lead
2011Code of Honour 正义武馆Ou Kelu
欧可璐

  • Pairs up with Elvin Ng
  • Siblings with Andie Chen
  • 1st female lead
2011The In-Laws 麻婆斗妇Wang Jiazhen
王佳珍

  • Pairs up with Pierre Png
  • Siblings with Cavin Soh
  • 2nd female lead
2011A Tale of 2 Cities 乐在双城Zhang Ya'le
章雅乐

  • Pairs up with Pierre Png
  • 1st female lead
2010Unriddle 最火搭档Hu Xiaoman
胡小曼

2010With You 我在你左右Ye Siqi
叶思琪

2010Happy Family 过好年Yang Xiaodong
杨小冬

  • Pairs up with Remus Kam
  • 1st female lead
2009My School Daze 书包太重Isabel Teo
张洛芸

2009The Dream-Catchers 未来不是梦Lin Jiaqi
林佳琪

  • Pairs up with Elvin Ng
  • 1/2 of female co-leads
2008By My Side 不凡的爱Zhang Yuhang
张宇航

  • Pairs up with Elvin Ng
  • 2nd female lead
2007Metamorphosis 破茧而出An Xiaoqian
安晓茜

  • 1st female lead
2007Honour and Passion 宝家卫国Bao Wenwei
  • Pairs up with Pierre Png
  • 2nd female lead
2006Love at 0 °C 爱情零度CSun Yixin
孙逸欣

  • Pairs up with Elvin Ng
  • 2nd female lead
2005A Promise for Tomorrow 拥抱明天Fang Fang
方方

  • Pairs up with Qi Yuwu
  • 1st female lead
  • Rui En's first leading role.
2005Beyond The aXis of Truth II 法医X档案2Fang Xiuxiu
方秀秀

  • Supporting
2005You Are the One ½缘分Yukiko Hao Meide
郝美德

  • Pairs up with Terence Cao
  • Supporting
2004My Mighty-in-Laws 野蛮亲家Li Yingying
李盈盈

2002'No Problem!'' 考试家族Jessica
  • Supporting
  • Rui En's official debut drama.

Other notable TV programs

Accolades