This invention provides an Amycolatopsis sp. strain (zhp06), and a method of using the whole cell preparation of the strain for vanillin production. The strain was deposited in China Center for Type Culture Collection on Jul. 26, 2011 with the number of CCTCC NO: M 2011265. Under high concentrations of ferulic acid substrate, the vanillin production by this method can reach more than 10 g/L. The molar conversion rate of ferulic acid is more than 50% and the purity of vanillin is from 80% to 95%. The advantage of this invention includes: repeated use of biocatalyst cells, mild biotransformation condition, low environmental pollution, short production cycle, high product purity and simple purification procedure. It has a great potential for industrial applications.