Bà Ngô Nhân có nguyên danh là Dương Anh (楊瑛)[1], sinh ngày 2 tháng 8 năm 1909 tại Thiên Tân nhưng bản quán tại Ngô huyện tỉnh Giang Tô[3]. Wu returned to live with her biological parents at age 13. She studied painting at the Chengdong Girls' School in Shanghai, where she was influenced by the surge of modern drama.[2] In 1929 she made her theatre debut in Tian Han's play Night Talk in Suzhou, directed by Ying Yunwei (应云卫).[1] At that time she was already married, but her family was adamantly opposed to her acting. Determined to pursue her acting career, she divorced her husband.[2]

In 1935 Wu Yin made her film debut in Cai Chusheng's classic New Women starring Ruan Lingyu. Introduced by Ying Yunwei, in 1936 she joined the Mingxing Film Company, and appeared in more than ten films including Crossroads.[1][2] When the Japanese invaded China in 1937, Wu Yin fled Shanghai for the wartime capital Chungking, where she acted in many plays and at least three films. After the Japanese surrender in 1945, she returned to Shanghai and joined the Kunlun Film Company. She appeared in many films including Eight Thousand Li of Cloud and Moon (dir. Shi Dongshan) and Far Away Love (dir. Chen Liting), but her most famous roles were those of the old mothers in The Spring River Flows East (dirs. Zheng Junli and Cai Chusheng) and Myriad of Lights (dir. Shen Fu), and Mrs. Xiao in Crows and Sparrows (dir. Zheng Junli).[1]

After the establishment of the Cộng hòa Nhân dân Trung Hoa in 1949, Wu Yin acted in several films including The Life of Wu Xun, Song Jingshi and It's My Day Off, before being labelled a "rightist" in 1957 during the Anti-Rightist Movement.[1] During the Cultural Revolution she was tortured and lost the ability to walk,[4] and her husband, filmmaker Meng Junmou (孟君谋), was persecuted to death.[5] After the end of the Cultural Revolution, Wu Yin was politically rehabilitated on ngày 11 tháng 12 năm 1978, and joined the Communist Party of China in 1985. She appeared in a few more films, and died in 1991.[1]