Tien Niu was born in 1958. At age 8, she was a member of the Fan Fok Fa Opera Academy. Three years later, she appeared in her first film, Farewell My Love.

In 1977, she appeared in the Shaw Brothers' action film, the Brave Archer aka Kung Fu Warlords (that was the first time I saw her in a movie) .

After her 1991 film, The Magnificent Scoundrels, she retired from the film industry. For a while, she was married to actor Alex Man. In 2001, Tien Niu returned to the screen to make Para Para Sakura. Besides acting, Tien also has a career as a model.