Fann Wong Biography

Fann Wong was born in Singapore and won a modelling scholarship at age 16. She earned a diploma in fashion merchandising at La Salle International and was already highly sought after by agencies around the world. She moved on to acting in 1994 with her debut "Dreams Come True" and by 1995 clinched awards for Best Newcomer, Best Actress and Top 5 Most Popular Actresses.

Only one area remained unexplored to Fann and she released an album in 1997 rounding out her performing experience. Her second album "Shopping" (1998) sold more than 500,000 copies in Asia and won her the title of Most Popular Local Singer.

Fann Woon Fong (Chinese: 范文芳; pinyin: Fàn Wénfāng, Sino-Vietnamese: Phạm Văn Phương; born January 27, 1971), better known by her stage name Fann Wong, is a Singaporean actress, singer and model.

In late 2002, Fann became romantically attached to Malaysian actor Christopher Lee, with whom she has collaborated eight times. She is known to zealously safeguard her privacy.

Born in Singapore to Hakka middle-class tailor parents, Fann shared her childhood with three siblings - an older sister, as well as a younger brother and sister. She was educated at Temasek Secondary School, where she took her GCE 'O' Level examinations in 1987.

After a year in the Singapore television industry, her role in Chronicle of Life won her Best Actress and Best Newcomer awards at Singapore's 1995 Star Awards. In 1996, her role in The Unbroken Cycle won her first regional nomination at the Asian Television Awards. She continued to star in a large array of drama serials, including A Romance in Shanghai (produced in Shanghai), Wild Orchids (filmed in Sydney) and Brave New World (filmed in Amsterdam and Belgium).

In mid-1998, the release of Fann's hit wuxia drama Return of the Condor Heroes along with her second album, Shopping, further increased her exposure in Taiwan and China. When Hong Kong director Derek Yee saw Fann's "Shopping" music video on Hong Kong's Channel V, he flew to Singapore to cast her as the lead actress in the Hong Kong art film The Truth About Jane and Sam. The movie topped the Singapore box office for three weeks and her role as a gritty wild-child won her a Best New Performer nomination at the 19th Hong Kong Film Awards in 2000. In addition, her role as a self-centred stockbroker in Out to Win attracted a million viewers in Singapore during its finale.

In 1999, Fann released her third album Missing You, recorded Private Number with British boyband 911, and performed Moments of Magic, Singapore's official millennium song. These musical successes resulted in her being the first Singapore artiste to stage a solo paying concert ("My Story" - Fann Wong In Concert) at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in 2000. That same year, she released her fourth Mandarin album, No Problem.

In 2002, Fann became the first Singaporean actress to score a major role in a Hollywood production as Chon Lin in Shanghai Knights. When the film was released in early 2003, Stephen Hunter of the Washington Post stated:

The Hollywood Reporter's David Hunter noted that Fann was "more than equal to playing the strong woman fighter who's also pretty darn cute", while John Keenan of the Omaha World-Herald stated that "Fann's stunt work is actually more memorable than Jackie Chan's here". In Hong Kong, the South China Morning Post stated that she "seems set to displace Lucy Liu as Hollywood's Asian babe du jour". She was subsequently nominated under the Best Fight category in MTV Movie Awards 2003, and in 2004, won the Singapore Street Festival's Best International Artiste Award.

In 2004, Fann continued acting in China period dramas such as Moon Fairy and My Fair Lady. She also starred in a Singapore serial on the SARS epidemic titled Always On My Mind, which won her a Best Actress nomination at the 2004 Star Awards. In mid-2004, Fann was cast in the lead role in the German-Singapore telemovie, House of Harmony. In late 2004, Fann released her first publication, a semi-autobiographical comic book Girl Illustrated. After a musical hiatus of five years, she released her first compilation, In Love With You.

In April 2005, Fann was invited to the Cannes MIPTV Media Market where she promoted House of Harmony and discussed possible collaborations with European industry professionals. House of Harmony has since been telecast in Germany, Austria, France and Belgium to a combined prime-time viewership of over 80 million. That same year, Fann took on a lead role in a Taiwanese art-house romance film, Dragon Eye Congee, which was nominated for five categories at the inaugural Asian Festival of First Films.

In November 2006, Fann made her first promotional visit to Phnom Penh, Cambodia. She performed at the Tonle Sap Water Festival Mega Concert and visited the Krousar Thmey blind school, where she donated cassette recorders and biscuits.

Overnight, everyone in Singapore knew where I lived. People turned up to take pictures of my house, toot their car horns, or shout "Fann, come out!" My house was on exhibition. I got the neighbourhood police to step up their patrols around my house.

Fann and Lee have collaborated eight times in television productions, and have played lovers in six of these. The 2004 Star Awards saw colleagues Chew Chor Meng, Zoe Tay, Huang Biren and Mark Lee attempting to out their romance, while Zoe Tay urged Lee to propose to Fann at the 2005 Star Awards. After Fann and Lee publicly admitted to their relationship in mid-2005, they were seldom seen together. However, in December 2006, they walked together hand-in-hand down the blue carpet of the 2006 Star Awards ceremony. The gesture was noted by the Singapore media as a rare public acknowledgement of their relationship.