Nickname

Bao Bei (Chinese for 'precious), Shopping Queen

Height

171 cm

Fann Wong was born Fann Woon Fong to a middle-class Chinese family in Singapore on 27 January 1971. She was born and bred in Singapore. She coined her stage name, Fann Wong, from a combination of her father's surname (Fann) and her mother's surname (Wong). In 1988, when she was 16, she was spotted by a talent scout for a Her World magazine cover girl competition and she unexpectedly won the beauty contest, which launched her high-profile career and making her a well sought-after model in Singapore. After completing her GCE 'A' Levels at a private institution in Singapore, she went on to the La Salle Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore and achieved a Diploma in Fashion Merchandising after her studies there. By then, she was already a top model in the Singapore modelling circuit. She decided to do freelance modelling work in Taiwan in 1990. In 1994, she was discovered in Taipei by a Singapore TV producer who invited her back to Singapore on a project basis for one of his TV serials. Fann agreed to sink her teeth into her maiden drama serial 'Dreams Come True' (1994), without going through the traditional preparatory channels for aspiring actors in Singapore - the Drama Training Course or Star Search. Her performance led to other projects, including her third and award-winning serial, 'Chronicles Of Life' (1995), for which she achieved the Best Actress accolade in just her first year in acting. In less than two years, she swiftly rose to stardom to become one of the top female artistes in Singapore. In 1996, she released her first solo Mandarin pop album, 'Fanntasy' (1996). The Taiwan version of that album, titled 'I Live Alone', was released in 1997 and was a certified success in the Taiwanese music market, achieving four IFPI Platinum awards in sales records (that release sold half a million records in the East Asian market). In 1998, a Chinese period TV drama produced by Fann's Singapore management company (MediaCorp), titled 'Return Of The Condor Heroes' (1998), was a runaway hit in Taiwan and China. It immensely increased Fann's popularity in the region and certified her as a credible actress in the Chinese-speaking world. At the same time, the release of her very commercially-successful second solo album, titled 'Shopping' (1998), won her many new fans in the region, including the award-winning Hongkong director, Tung-Shing Yee, who noticed her 'Shopping' MTV on Channel V in Hongkong and invited her to star in her first big-screen Hongkong movie, an art film titled Zhen xin hua (1999). In the film, she had a breakthrough role as a delinquent teenager who finally made good. Her realistic and heartwarming performance in the movie won her a prestigious nomination for the Best New Performer Award at the Hongkong Film Awards (the Hongkong equivalent of the Oscars) the following year (2000). This also led to another collaboration, a Hongkong feminist movie titled Yueliang de mimi (2000), in which Fann played a Singapore TV journalist torn between two men. She helmed the soundtracks for both of the big-screen movies that she starred in. In 2000, having released four albums thus far (including a special edition duet where she sang 'Private Number' with the now-defunct British boyband 911), Fann became the first Singaporean to stage a large-scale concert ('My Story - Fann Wong In Concert') at Singapore's Indoor Stadium. It was a major media focus and a sell-out gig. Weeks later, she released her first artistic pictorial, 'In +he Mood' (2000), helmed by renowned Hongkong conceptualists Chang Suk-ping and Wing Shya. In 2001, her focus switched back to the small screen, with 3 drama serials, a Taiwanese web movie (www.175do.com.tw) and a celebrity cameo in a local TV serial. One of the period drama serials she did - 'Madam White Snake' (2001) - a Taiwanese period drama by renowned Taiwan producer Young Pei-Pei, showcased Fann's versatility in acting and single-handedly raised her profile and popularity in Taiwan. Later in the year, Fann was invited as a guest presenter for Taiwan's most prestigious movie award event, the Golden Horse Awards. Fann Wong has had numerous memorable drama serials in Singapore, 5 music albums in the Asian region, two art-house Hongkong films and a bevy of endorsements including a prestigious Emporio Armani endorsement (she was the first Asian ambassador for the Italian fashion label), Fann Wong is already a top star in Singapore and a well-known name in the Asian region. Shanghai Knights (2002), her first international film, will bring her opposite international stars Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson, and will add a whole new international dimension to her career.