Fan Bing Bing

Fan Bing Bing (born 16 September 1981) is a Chinese actress, singer and television producer. She was born in Qingdao but was raised in Yantai. She graduated from Shanghai Xie Jin Film and Television Art College and Shanghai Theatre Academy.
Fan has received awards from the Tokyo International Film Festival, Beijing College Student Film Festival, Golden Horse Film Festival and Hundred Flowers Awards, among others. She was ranked first on the "50 Most Beautiful People in China" list in 2010 by the newspaper Beijing News. Due to her appearances on the red carpet, movie premieres, and fashion shows, the media describes her as a fashion icon. In 2013, Fan topped the Forbes China Celebrity 100 list.

Fan rose to stardom in 1999 for her supporting role as Jin Suo in the first two seasons of the Chinese television series Princess Pearl, which were adapted from Taiwanese writer Chiung Yao's novels. Before Princess Pearl, she had played minor roles in some projects for almost two years. She was recommended by Taiwanese actress Leanne Liu to join the cast of Princess Pearl. After that, Fan signed an eight-year contract with Chiung Yao's company, which produced Princess Pearl. However, as the company had yet to establish any branches in mainland China, many mainland Chinese television advertising firms had to make calls to Taiwan for negotiations, resulting in a waste of time and effort. When Fan and her mother wanted to end the contract, Chiung Yao's company asked for ¥1 million in compensation, but eventually the court ordered Fan to pay ¥200,000 because the contract was illegal due to her age.

In 2000, Fan joined a company owned by Wang Jinghua, a well-known artistes manager in mainland China. At the end of 2000, Wang became the general manager of Huayi Brothers, so Fan followed Wang and signed a six-year contract with Huayi. During her time in Huayi, Fan starred in many television series, such as Young Justice Bao II (2001), Red Poppies (2002), adapted from the Mao Dun Literature Prize novel, and The Proud Twins (2005), adapted from Gu Long's novel Juedai Shuangjiao.
Fan also acted in many films. In 2003, she starred in Feng Xiaogang's Cell Phone, which earned her a Best Actress Award at the 27th Hundred Flowers Awards, a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the 24th Golden Rooster Awards and an Outstanding New Actress nomination at the 10th Huabiao Awards. She also appeared in The Lion Roars (2002), The Twins Effect II (2004), A Chinese Tall Story (2005), A Battle of Wits (2006), The Matrimony (2007) and Flash Point (2007). She received a Golden Bauhinia Awards nomination for her role in A Battle of Wits.
Fan released her first album Just Begun in 2005. In 2006, Forbes China gave its most prized award, the Star of the Year, to Fan, for her popularity, high press coverage and website hits in last year.
Regarding the six-year cooperation with Huayi Brothers, Fan said,

"Huayi gave me a lot of opportunities. It has a very good team and the spirit of cooperation. I also tried my best. The six years really are a non-stop time. In the company, everyone calls me Astro Boy. I did the most works, and I am the person who able to endure the most hardship. I am 25 years old now, from 25 years old to 30 years old, I think that whatever life will experience or career will confront, the period is a very important juncture, or a crossroad for me, and I do not want to be too hasty to make any decisions."

Fan left Huayi Brothers in February 2007 and then started her own studio, Fan Bingbing Studio. She starred in eight films in 2007 and won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 44th Golden Horse Film Awards for her role in The Matrimony that year. She also won the Best Actress Award of 4th Euro-Asia International Film Festival for her role in the film Lost in Beijing.
In 2008. Fan started an arts school in Huairou, Beijing, and served as its principal, but the school was actually run by her parents. She also became the leader of the acting team of West Movie Group's arts centre. That year, her studio made its first television production, Rouge Snow (2008), adapted from the novel of the same name, in which she portrayed a poor girl, sold to a wealthy and influential clan, fighting for freedom against fate.
In 2009, her studio produced The Last Night of Madam Chin, also adapted from the same name novel written by Bai Xianyong, was a story about a beautiful dancing girl’s legendary life. That year, Fan starred in Shinjuku Incident and Sophie's Revenge. She also appeared in Bodyguards and Assassins, which earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination at the Hong Kong Film Awards.
In 2010, Fan starred in Chen Kaige’s film Sacrifice. She also appeared in Wang Xiaoshuai's film Chongqing Blues, which premiered at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. On 24 October, another film Fan starred in, Buddha Mountain, premiered at the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival, which earned her the Best Actress Award.

In 2011, Fan starred in Shaolin, The Founding of a Party and Stretch with Nicolas Cazalé and David Carradine. On 4 March, the film Buddha Mountain was released in mainland China. On 28 April, Fan won the Best Actress Award at the 18th Beijing College Student Film Festival for her role in Buddha Mountain. In May, she appeared at the 64th Cannes Film Festival to promote My Way together with director Kang Je-gyu and actors Jang Dong-gun and Joe Odagiri. In October, she became a member of the International Competition Jury of 24th Tokyo International Film Festival.
In the first half of 2012, Fan attended many fashion shows in Paris. On 16 May, she attended the opening ceremony of 65th Cannes Film Festival as the only Asian global spokesperson on behalf of Paris L’Oreal. On May 21, Forbes ranked Fan third on the 2012 Forbes China Celebrity 100 List according to her success in the past year. On 17 July, she appeared at the first press conference to promote the film Double Xposure, which was released in China on 29 September. She also attended The Voice of China final concert to promote the film. In this film, she portrayed a girl who suffered childhood trauma and experienced visual hallucinations after witnessing her father killed her mother. Most film critics gave overwhelmingly high praise to Fan's performance. This film was a huge financial success, with a domestic gross of more than ¥100 million, which broke the box office record for a domestic art film in China. On 12 December, Fan appeared in Lost in Thailand, in which she did an unpaid cameo so as to "help" her first-time filmmaker friend Xu Zheng. The film broke the box office record of all Chinese films in China.
Fan appeared as Dr. Wu's assistant Wu Jiaqi in Iron Man 3 mainland China version, which was released on 1 May. Commenting on her role, Fan said, "People familiar with me know that I am willing to help friends. That was the Iron Man 3 production company asked me whether I had time to shoot a half-day for help, so I went. [....] Helping friends makes me feel at ease." On 10 April, Fan won the Chinese Best Actress Award for her performance in Double Xposure at the 2013 Huading Award ceremony held in Hong Kong. One day later, she became the first Asian celebrity ambassador for the Champagne House Moët & Chandon. On 23 April, Fan topped the 2013 Forbes China Celebrity 100 List. On 17 May, Chopard announced Fan was their new brand ambassador. On 18 May, Fan was honoured as the International Artist of the Year in Cannes by The Hollywood Reporter. On 9 December, the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group's B2C business Taobao announced Fan topped the list of most valuable celebrities for boosting online business, and said Fan influenced approximately 74 million US dollars sales on its ecommerce website. On 22 December, Fan received the Best Actress Award and the Hottest Figure Award at the Baidu Hot Ceremony.

Heart Ali, a project started by Fan and Chen Lizhi (the general manager of Beijing Maite Media), is aimed at helping children suffering from congenital heart disease in Ngari Prefecture in Tibet. Fan has visited them several times so far with medical teams to identify children in need of treatment. After identification, the children and their parents are brought in groups to Beijing or Shanghai for surgery.
The first screening was held on 8 August 2010, when Fan and several others from Beijing went to Ngari to screen children with congenital heart disease. They diagnosed 267 children with congenital heart disease. The second screening was In June 2011. A volunteer group, convened by Fan Bingbing Studio and Chen Lizhi, including members from Fan's studio, two doctors from Tsinghua University First Affiliated Hospital Heart Diseases Center and nine other volunteers, carrying portable echocardiography equipment, went to Ngari to diagnose children with congenital heart disease. This time, the group screened 336 children and diagnosed 78 cases of congenital heart disease. The third screening was on 5 April 2012. Fan Bingbing Studio members, Chen Lizhi, two doctors from Tsinghua University First Affiliated Hospital, two doctors of the Shanghai Yodak Cardio-thoracic Hospital and some other volunteers, went to Ngari to screen the children with congenital heart disease. In 12 days, volunteers screened almost 10,000 children and diagnosed more than 160 cases of congenital heart disease. Since August 2010, more than 200 children with congenital heart disease have received medical treatment in Beijing and Shanghai.

On 13 May 2010, Fan wore a “Dragon Robe” on the red carpet of the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. The dress, co-designed by Chinese designer Laurence Hsu and Fan herself, features two leaping dragons and crashing waves on the hem, in the bright yellow colour that was exclusively used by emperors in ancient China. The dress was collected by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London on 12 March 2012. Laurence Hsu announced that the dress shown at the museum is a modified version of the original, which was bought by Madame Tussauds.
On 11 May 2011, Fan, wearing a crane dress, appeared on the red carpet at the opening ceremony of the 64th Cannes Film Festival. The dress was auctioned off by Fan herself for about a million RMB for her charity project, Heart Ali, on 27 April 2012.
On the red carpet of the opening ceremony of the 65th Cannes Film Festival, Fan wore an elegant pale strapless gown designed by her friend Christopher Bu, decorated with bright floral designs and stories about the Four Beauties of ancient China. Inspired by a porcelain vase, the ancient vibe of her dress was complemented by her hairstyle, which made her look like a young maiden in the Tang Dynasty.
Due to these appearances in Cannes, Fan has attracted notable media attention. In recent years, Fan received various invitations from fashion brands such as Valentino Garavani, Giorgio Armani, Salvatore Ferragamo Italia S.p.A., Atelier Versace, Christian Dior and Louis Vuitton, to attend fashion shows in Paris, Beijing and Shanghai. On 3 July 2012, she closed the Stéphane Rolland Couture show in Paris, and was featured in the fashion show's finale. On 31 July, she was ranked number nine on Vanity Fair's International Best Dressed list 2012. On 19 September, she was honoured with the Personal Style Award by ELLe (USA Edition). On 2 December, she became the new ambassador of Louis Vuitton "Epi Alma" series of handbags. On 5 December, she was awarded "The Most Beautiful Woman of the Year" by the magazine Esquire (China Edition). On 24 December, she was selected by the website Red Carpet Fashion Awards as the Best Dressed International Star 2012.
Fan joined in the opening ceremony of 2013 Cannes Film Festival premiere, wearing a custom Louis Vuitton gown, and that was the first time the French fashion house had created a gown especially for an Asian actress. In December, Fan posed for Louis Vuitton Spring/Summer 2014 ad campaign.

 

Reference: Wikipedia