Janet Hsieh

At 44 years old, Janet Hsieh has this physical status:

Janet Hsieh (Xiè YFen) is a Taiwanese-American television presenter, author, writer, and model based in Taipei, Taiwan.

Fun Taiwan, the long-running series on the Discovery Travel and Living Channel, is hosted by Sheri.

The program is now in its 13th season, with Fun Asia and Fun Taiwan Challenge as part of it.

She has been nominated four times for the Taiwanese Golden Bell Awards as Best Host of a Travel Company, as well as one time for Best Host of a Variety Program.

Early life and education

Hsieh was born in Houston, Texas, where she was raised on January 20, 1980. Her father is a product of Kaohsiung, Taiwan, and her mother is from Taipei. She has one older sister. In 1997, she graduated from Bellaire Senior High School.

In 2001, Hsieh graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology with a Bachelor of Science degree in Biology and Spanish. She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega women's fraternity and served on the university's Ring Committee, which was responsible for creating the MIT class ring during her time at MIT. During this time, she also ran the Boston Marathon.

She has worked at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina and at the University of California, Los Angeles, California.

With fluency in Mandarin and Taiwanese, Hsieh commands English (native speaker), French, Spanish, and Chinese.

Personal life

In January 2015, Hsieh married George Young. They have two sons, one born in 2017 and the other in 2021.

Hsieh is a black belt-holder in Taekwondo and he is a certified sushi chef and circus performer. She is fluent in English, Spanish, French, Mandarin, Mandarin, and Taiwanese.

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Career

After graduation from college, Hsieh spent time in Jamshedpur as a community outreach volunteer. She also received certification as an EMT from Boston EMS/MIT, and in September 2001 went to Taiwan for a medical residential internship, where she completed a six-month stint at Taipei Veterans General Hospital in Tienmu. She also worked in India in the city of Jamshedpur for Tata Steel.

In 2002, at the end of her medical internship, Hsieh met Jeff Huang of the Taiwanese rap group L.A. Boyz, as well as rising star Vanness Wu outside the popular Taipei nightclub, Room 18. On recommendations from Huang and Wu, Hsieh auditioned for being taller than other women, eventually landing an underwear commercial.

In 2005, Hsieh auditioned for a new Discovery Travel and Living television series exploring the island of Taiwan, entitled Fun Taiwan. Since landing the role, she has been nominated four times for Best Host in a Travel Program at the Golden Bell Awards, achieving a win in 2011, and has been one of the longest running series on Discovery Channel's TLC (Asia).

Hsieh learned to play the violin at age five and was part of the Texas Young Virtuosos, who played at the White House for President George Bush and in Europe. In Taiwan, she has performed three concerts at the National Concert Hall, twice in 2011 and again in 2013. She also played as one of 4,645 participants at Changhua Stadium in 2011, joining Changhua County youth to set a Guinness World Record for "Largest Violin Ensemble."

Hsieh published her first Chinese-language travel book, Traveling with 100 Toothbrushes, in 2010. She has since published two additional travel-related titles, Backpack to the Future and Au for You, as well as two English learning books, Janet's Funtastic English and j@net.com.

In 2016, Hsieh and her husband George Young co-authored the book Starting at The End (Chinese language title: "在世界的盡頭說：我願意"). The book shares their sometimes conflicting stories on how they met, as well as their fifty-day journey through Texas, Argentina, and through to their wedding in Antarctica.

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