Fann Woon Fong (Chinese: 范文芳; pinyin: Fàn Wénfāng, formerly 范雯芳; born 27 January 1971), better known by her stage name Fann Wong, is a Singaporean actress, singer and model.
At Singapore's Star Awards 1995, Fann became the first actress to win both the Best Actress and Best Newcomer awards in the same year. After gaining regional exposure and popularity in Asia through film and television productions, she became the first Singaporean actress to break into Hollywood, playing Chon Lin in the 2003 film Shanghai Knights. She was also the youngest actress to have earned an All-Time Favourite Award at the Star Awards. 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.
Early days: Television career
Fann Wong and Chen Hanwei in The Morning Express (1995).
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.
At the age of sixteen, she won a beauty contest organised by Her World, a Singapore fashion magazine. She started a successful modelling career in Singapore, and spent the next two years modelling part-time while taking her GCE 'A' Level examinations at a private school. She afterward earned a diploma in fashion merchandising from LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts.
Fann moved to Taiwan in 1993. One of her earliest successes was in an Oil of Ulan (now Oil of Olay) commercial aired in Taiwan and Singapore. The following year, a Singaporean television producer discovered her and cast her in Dreams Come True, a Singapore drama series. Fann soon starred in two more Singapore television series, The Challenger and Chronicle of Life.
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 late 1996, Fann released in Singapore her first Mandarin pop album Fanntasy, which contained a duet with Taiwanese singer Jeff Chang. The album was retitled I Live Alone and repackaged with two additional songs for the Taiwanese market and won 4 IFPI platinum sales awards in Taiwan, marking the start of Fann's regional success.
Late 90s: Rise of regional popularity
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.
During the next few years, Fann focused on her acting career. She played a two-timing television reporter in the omnibus Hong Kong film When I Fall in Love... With Both, acted as a lovelorn insurance agent in the Singaporean romantic drama Looking For Stars, as well as played the title character in the Taiwanese period drama Madam White Snake. She also began hosting travelogue shows, including Travel Hunt: Japan and Fann Adventure, which was filmed in South Africa and Malaysia.
Personal life
Fann has been romantically involved with Malaysian actor Christopher Lee since late 2002, although the pair only admitted their relationship in mid-2005. She has had only one prior romance — an 11-year relationship with businessman Anthony Chan.
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.
One of the few remaining single Singaporean actresses among her peers, Fann has stated that she does not care when she will get married. In September 2008, it was rumored she would be marrying Christopher Lee. The Singapore media has noted that she tends to zealously safeguard her private life from media scrutiny. Fann's hobbies include illustrating comics, shopping, eating and sleeping.
