A face identification method includes performing a distance detection to obtain a detected distance value; determining whether the detected distance value is smaller than a distance threshold; when the detected distance value is smaller than the distance threshold, determining a luminance corresponding to the detected distance value and emitting an infrared light according to the luminance; capturing an infrared light image and performing face identification to the infrared light image; and when the face identification is successful, performing a corresponding event. A face identification apparatus configured to perform the face identification method is further provided.