Fann Wong - Biography

Last Editor: beng74				Fann Wong Biography -   Name : Fann Wong Birth Name : Fann Woon Fong Date of Birth : January 27, 1971 Place of Birth : Singapore Height : 5' 7¼'' Education : La Salle International Academy (GCE 'A' Levels and diploma in fashion merchandising). Nationality : Singaporian Profession : Actor Sometimes Called : Fan Wen Fang Fann Man Fong Pham Van Phuong Nicknames : Bao Bei (Chinese for 'precious') Shopping Queen Caldecott/MediaCorp Princess

Fann Wong Trivia -

Fann Wong's break in showbiz was through winning a Her World Singapore cover beauty contest in 1988. Fann won Singapore's Best Actress award in 1995 for her performance in her third drama, "Yuan jin jin sheng" (1995). Fann was one of Singapore's initial pop exports to Taiwan and was so successful in the Taiwanese music industry in 1997 and 1998 that she was crowned Singapore's most exportable star. Fann has been approached by many regional Asian directors such as Hongkong's Wong Kar Wai and Wai Kar Fai, China's Xie Jin and Huang An, Taiwan's Zhou You, Lin Ruiyang and Yang Peipei, amongst others. Fann has recorded an English duet with the British boyband 911, titled 'Private Number', in 1999. This duet is available in her third Mandarin album, 'Missing You' (1999). Fann was the first Singaporean to stage a concert in the Singapore Indoor Stadium in 2000. Fann was the first Singapore-based actress to be nominated for the Hongkong Film Awards in 2000. Fann was nominated the Most Influential Media Personality with two others by a national Chinese newspaper in Singapore (www.zaobao.com) in 2000. Fann was also awarded Singapore's highest accolade for the local entertainment industry, the Special Achievement Award, in 2000. Fann was the first Singaporean to be invited as a presenter to Taiwan's prestigious Golden Horse Awards in 2001. Fann was the first Asian ambassador for the Italian fashion label, Emporio Armani. Fann was the first Singaporean artiste to have a charity auction website created in her name (www.fanncharity.com) in 2000. The proceeds of the auction of her memorabilia (such as posters, CD singles, clothes and collectible items) went to funds for the rebuilding of 43 schools in Taiwan hit by the September 21 1999 earthquakes. Fann performed her first major death-defying stunt in a public performance in Bugis Junction, Singapore, for a live charity program in aid of needy kidney patients in April 2003. She had to walk on a tightrope and perform stunts in mid- air together with two other male artistes. Though it rained, she finally completed the dangerous stunt successfully and raised the highest amount of donations in her tenure (SGD$700,000+). She was calm and collected throughout, but was so overcome with emotion that she broke down in tears after completing the stunt. Winner of the Singapore Fashion Awards 2003 Celebrity Style Award. Nominated for the Yahoo! Singaporean of the Year Award 2003. Received the Best International Actress Award at the Singapore Street Festival 2004 on 21 April 2004. She received it from Singapore minister Vivian Balakrishnan. She made her first trip to Vietnam in June 2004 for a Friendship Melody Concert at Ho Chi Minh's Indoor Stadium. She performed a Chinese song, an English song and two Vietnamese songs together with Vietnamese pop singers Thu Minh and Duc Tuan. It was a wildly popular promotional trip with fans chasing her on the streets, at the airport and at the concert.

Fann Wong Detailed Biography -

Fann Wong is a Singapore-born actress-singer-model of Chinese origin. Born on 27 January 1971, Fann Wong derived her artiste name, Fann Wong, from a combination of her father's surname (Fann) and her mother's surname (Wong). With GCE 'A' Levels and a diploma in fashion merchandising from the La Salle International Academy, Fann Wong's break into showbiz was when she was 16, and was crowned champion of a beauty contest in Singapore which she participated in. Fann Wong stayed in the modelling circuit between 1990 to 1994, occasionally flying to Taiwan to film product endorsements for products such as Oil of Ulan. In 1994, she was discovered in Taipei by a Singapore TV producer who invited her back to Singapore to act in a drama serial, "Mei meng cheng zhen" (1994). Fann Wong's natural acting talent was discovered in the show, and this led to her career transition as a television actress based in Singapore. A slew of television projects soon after - including her third and award-winning serial, "Yuan jin jin sheng" (1995) - raised her profile, status and popularity such that she became a top name in Singapore by 1995. In 1996, another career transition for Fann Wong's happened when she released her first solo Mandarin pop album, 'Fanntasy' (1996) in Singapore. However, due to a contractual problem which occurred in late 1996 between MediaCorp (her management agency in Singapore) and a Taiwanese artiste management agency, Fann was suspended for half a year. During that period, Fann Wong attended vocal and drama classes in Shanghai. After Fann Wong was released from her suspension period in mid-1997, she went over to Taiwan and released a repackaged version of that album, titled 'I Live Alone'. It was an immense success in the Taiwanese music market, achieving four IFPI Platinum awards in sales records and moving over half a million units in the East Asian market. In 1998, Fann Wong's gongfu TV drama, "Shen diao xia lü" (1998), was a runaway success 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, 'Shopping' (1998), won Fann Wong many 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). Fann Wong's breakthrough role as a delinquent teenager who finally made good introduced her to Hongkong movie audiences and won her a prestigious nomination for the Best New Performer Award at the Hongkong Film Awards (the Hongkong equivalent of the Oscars). The success of the movie led to another Hongkong feminist movie titled Yüeliang de mimi (2000), in which Fann had a starring role opposite Michelle Reis and 'Teresa Lee (I)' . In these two years, Fann Wong also found time to continue her prolific singing career, releasing soundtracks to all her movies and TV serials as well as dueting with the British boyband, 911 in the English classic, 'Private Number'. Hence, in 2000, Fann Wong 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. Later in the year, Fann returned to her modelling origins again when she was invited to Hongkong to do an artistic pictorial helmed by renowned award-winning Hongkong conceptualists William Chang and Wing Shya. The pictorial, titled 'In +he Mood', found a ready market in Asia. It was noticed that made-in-Singapore serials like "Bu bu wei ying" (1999) and "Xing suo" (2000) won Fann Wong the most critical acclaim and viewership ratings, so in 2001, her focus switched back to being a television actress, with 4 drama serials and one Taiwanese web movie in 2001 alone. She worked with renowned Taiwanese producer Pei-Pei Yang in a blockbuster Taiwanese serial "Qing she yu bai she" (2001), which showcased her versatility in acting. This serial raised Fann Wong's profile and popularity in Taiwan and later in the year, Fann Wong was invited as a guest presenter for Taiwan's most prestigious movie award event, the Golden Horse Awards. In early 2002, she also appeared in the Ka-Fai Wai-produced China-Singapore collaboration, "You qing you yi" (2002). During this period, she diversified her career portfolio by actively hosting travelogue shows such as "Travel Hunt: Japan" (2001) and "Fann Adventure" (2002). In 2003, Fann Wong appeared alongside international stars Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson on cinema screens worldwide in her first Hollywood film, Shanghai Knights (2003), which gave Fann Wong's career an international boost. Fann Wong was nominated in the 2003 MTV Movie Awards (Best Fight category) for her kickfighting role in this movie.