Yu-Hsiu Cmille Chen was born in the city of I-Lan, situated on the North-east coast of Taiwan. After completing her high school education she attended the University of Utah (USA) where she majored in film studies - majoring in writing and directing. After graduating from university she initially pursued a career working in television commercials and music videos before branching out to feature filmmaking in Taiwan and China. In 2006 she set up Konnectfilms which specialised in high-end television commercials for the Asian market.
After moving to Australia, where she settled in Perth, Chen turned her career towards directing, with the intention of focusing on stories that expressed her views about life and peoples adaptation to changing environments. In 2008 she and Peter Thomas set up Bolderpictures in order to make these films. The following year Chan directed and produced Conscience (a 10 minute short) based on Italo Calvinos' short story of the same name. In 2010 she directed her first feature film, Little Sparrows.
