An electromagnetic-actuated liquid tunable focal length cylindrical lens is designed and fabricated, and its properties are characterized.The results show that the focal length of the cylindrical lens decreases gradually from the +∞ to 8.97mm when the current ranges from 0 to 1.5A, whose maximum transverse magnification β is 1.6 and the system power-on response time is about 20ms, power-off relaxation time is about 25ms.As the operating current is 1.5A, its focal length of lens is 8.97mm, the corresponding focal line length is 11mm and the focal line width is 1mm.The liquid cylindrical lenses proposed in the article have potential applications in the fields of beam shaping, device scanning and 2D/3D switchable display.