周嘉玲出道前是一名律师，因为自己佼好的面貌和身材被延揽到娱乐圈。20岁（1991年）成为香港小姐亚军，更于1998年成为首位华人获得美国露华浓 (Revlon)的广告合约。90年代拍过多部电影和电视剧，当中以《重庆森林》一片提名第14届香港电影金像奖最佳女配角，周嘉玲於2005年和印度籍设计师Darryl Goveas结婚，现为连卡佛公关，现已退出娱乐圈。

Valerie Chow Kar-Ling is a former Hong Kong actress, fashion publicist and entrepreneur.

She has starred in numerous films and several television series, most memorably in Wong Kar-wai's internationally acclaimed 1994 feature, Chungking Express, which earned her a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the 14th Hong Kong Film Awards. A former Miss Hong Kong runner-up (1991), she is also the first Chinese model to be signed by US cosmetics company Revlon in 1998.

Since 2003, she has worked primarily as a fashion publicist and in 2010, opened Mama Kid, a children's designer concept store in Hong Kong.

In 2018, she made a surprising return to acting, starring in the film Prison Architect by renowned Chinese visual artist Cao Fei. The film was commissioned by Tai Kwun, the Centre for Heritage and Arts in Hong Kong, and screened at the 69th Berlin International Film Festival as part of their Forum Expanded programme.