Originating from Kaiping, Guangdong, Chen grew up in Hong Kong, where he trained in Tai Chi. As a middle-weight boxer, he was once famous for challenging a heavyweight in a Southeast Asia teenage martial arts contest in 1971. He joined Shaw Brothers the following year as an actor and made five films with them, the final being O Boxeador das Sombras (1974) "The Shadow Boxer", , which was to be marked as Chen's final act as tragically, he committed suicide by gas poisoning in 1974, before the film was released. Chen was only 24 when he died.