Born in
Nanjing, China in 1948, he first had his break when he moved to
Hong Kong with his family at an early age. At only 12 years of age Charlie moved to
Taiwan to join
Fuxing Opera School, a
Peking opera school. At the age of 20 he moved back to Hong Kong to join
Cathay Organisation.
His movie debut came in the film
Xia Ri Chu Lian, literally translating to "The First Love In Summer". With
Brigitte Lin,
Joan Lin and
Chin Han, the four eventually became known as the "Two Chins, Two Lins" (二秦二林) which became iconic of 1970s romance films in
China. The names became a guarantee of box office success, and so Charlie was constantly paired with one of the '2 Lins'. Charlie won 2
Golden Horse Awards and in 2000 he also presented one in
Taiwan. Charlie retired from acting and began working in real estate. He lives in
California with his wife Cao Chang Li (曹昌莉) and 2 sons, Gary (秦康中) and Kevin (秦