Shavvon Lin

Shavvon Lin is a sage, sensitive, and empathic storyteller. Her powerful journey spans moving from Guangzhou, China to the United States to study film and communications at UCLA when she was just 18, to becoming a multi-dimensional entertainment biz talent. Today, Shavvon is an award-winning actress, singer-songwriter, screenwriter, and founder/co-editor of the book series, New Wave of Acting. Hers is a triumphant story that shines the spotlight on Asian talent. In all of Shavvon's work, she seeks to emotionally connect and bring people together. Central to her unifying ideals is regarding herself as a global citizen. During middle school and high school, Shavvon had many international student friends. Through them, she began to expand her vision of humanity, seeing the world through a multicultural perspective. These beliefs have served her well as a versatile actress; an expressive soul-pop singer, songwriter, and lyricist; and an author and screenwriter. Shavvon's understanding of the world almost poetically aligns with her training in the Stella Adler acting technique. This school of thought encourages actors to expand their global perspectives in order to create compelling performances. Shavvon is inspired by actors and actresses such as James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Ethan Hawke, and Carey Mulligan. She admires the loose-structured narratives and stylish slant of art house films and cites Richard Linklater and Terrance Malik as her dream directors to work with. Shavvon started singing and dancing ballet at the age of 9, and by the age of 10, she was studying classical vocal training. Her destiny to be a professional in the entertainment business first unfolded before her eyes as a young teen when she experienced actress Jennifer Hudson's stirring performance of the song, "And I'm Telling You I'm Not Going" in the 2006 movie, Dreamgirls. At 16, Shavvon became the youngest torch bearer at the 2010 Asian Games, and two years later she moved to the United States to attend UCLA. There, she nurtured her many talents through starring in experimental musicals, and also becoming a news anchor and bilingual host at a local television network. Since then, Shavvon has become a world-class talent, excelling in many facets of the performing arts. In 2014, Shavvon made her film debut in the independent short, False Awakening, and later went on to star in other movies such as A Better World (2015), Alibi (2016), Good Night Butterfly (2017), Love takes Five (2017), and The Wandering Earth (2019). The film Love Takes Five was shown on national television over 144 million times. For The Wandering Earth, Shavvon was cast for the highly-coveted role of dubbing the English-speaking voice of the character Han DuoDuo. The Wandering Earth became China's fourth highest-earning film in its cinema history, and the fourth highest-earning non-English film to date, earning $700 million at the box office worldwide. In addition, Shavvon has lent her voice to national commercials for Toyota, Panda Express, and more. Her most recent starring role was in the dramatic short film, Apart, Together (2021), which saw Shavvon win eight Best Actress awards, including the Independent Shorts Awards, the London Independent Film Awards, and the New York Indie Shorts Awards. Tackling the complex topic of China's controversial one-child policy, Apart, Together finds Shavvon playing the lead role of Yiru, a Chinese teenager who travels to Los Angeles in search of her long lost sister. For Shavvon, creativity is fluid and her ideals as an actress also course through her musicality. Singing, songwriting, and lyric writing is just another form of storytelling and self-expression. Her music bursts through genre divides, hitting that sweet spot where pop, musicals, R&B, and neo-soul overlap. Shavvon has had her songs featured on China's hit TV series, First Half of My Life (2017), she has collaborated with rap group Straight Fire Gang on the song "24 Years," and she has been featured in Selena Gomez' music video for "Bad Liar." In 2020, Shavvon released her first single, the invigorating pop track, "Love Me Later." Her current music inspirations include Jazmine Sullivan, Pink Sweats, and H.E.R. When Shavvon is not on set, onstage, or in the studio, she is writing. This facet of her self-expression is a literal manifestation of her belief in the power of storytelling. She is a developing screenwriter, and is actively involved in curating the book series, New Wave of Acting. For this, Shavvon has selected four American acting books that have inspired her, and she translated them herself into Chinese language editions. She hopes this series will inspire China's rapidly growing film market, offering fresh and innovative alternative educational books to aspiring Chinese actors. Up next, Shavvon is tracking a Neo-Soul and R&B-flavored EP; writing a TV series; managing a calendar of busy acting auditions; and has signed on for several upcoming films. Her future goal is to be cast when one of her screenplays goes into production.