「我的人生是舞台上的一齣戲…。我小時候沒有依靠，歌仔戲給我依靠，所以我也應該要回饋。」
“My life is a play on the stage...I had no one to rely on when I was little. Taiwanese opera gave me something to rely on. That’s why I should give something in return.”
廖瓊枝是台灣歌仔戲最傑出的苦旦之一，2004年曾獲得「亞洲最傑出藝人金獎—終身藝術成就獎」。她的唱腔優美、演技精湛，尤其擅長「哭調」。她的哭，源自於淒涼坎坷的身世，歷盡人世滄桑，嘗遍人間苦楚。在無依無靠、走投無路的情況下，廖瓊枝只能把自己賣給歌仔戲班當童伶。
Chiung-chih Liao is one of the most outstanding Taiwanese opera kudans (a sorrowful female character). She won the Most Outstanding Asian Artists Award for Lifetime Achievement in 2004. She has a beautiful singing voice and excellent acting skills, and is especially good at the “weeping tone.” Her weeping tone has its roots in her tough life experience and the countless hardships she suffered. Helpless and hopeless, her only option for survival was to sell herself to a Taiwanese opera troupe to work as a child actress.
在二十一歲時，廖瓊枝習得苦旦精髓，爾後獲得青衣獎，並開始加入電視歌仔戲的演出。1980年代，正值臺灣本土文化復興潮流，因緣際會，她參加了第二屆「民間樂人音樂會」，受到音樂大師許常惠的賞識，從此跨足文化界，展開薪傳工作。她不僅獲頒傳統藝術最高榮譽「民族藝術師」獎，及「國家文藝獎」雙重榮譽，更榮獲教育部「民族藝術薪傳獎」。廖瓊枝從藝超過一甲子，見證了台灣歌仔戲從繁華昌盛到衰落，繼而再興的發展歷程，堪稱為台灣歌仔戲界的代表人物。她將晚年歲月全部投注於歌仔戲薪傳工作，成立了台灣第一個歌仔戲專屬基金會，視教學為終身使命，培育了無數的知名學生，她也被視為台灣當代歌仔戲發展最重要的推手之一。
At age 21, Liao mastered the art of a kudan and went on to win the Blue Robe Award and started to perform Taiwanese opera on television. The 1980s saw the revival of local Taiwanese culture. By a stroke of fortune, she participated in a concert featuring folk musicians and was appreciated by music master Tsang-houei Hsu. From then on she crossed over into the cultural circles and began to work on the preservation of cultural heritage. Not only did she garner the Folk Artist Award, which is the highest honor in traditional art, and the National Award of Arts, but she was also presented the Folk Art Heritage Award by the Minister of Education. Being an actress for over sixty years, Liao has witnessed the golden period of Taiwanese opera and its later decline followed by a revival. She is no doubt a leading figure in Taiwanese opera. During her later years, she turned all the attention to the preservation of Taiwanese opera, establishing a foundation that is committed exclusively to Taiwanese opera. She sees teaching as her lifelong vocation. Having nurtured countless famous students, she is also regarded as one of the most important facilitators in the development of contemporary Taiwanese opera.
