Fann Wong: 10 facts you should know about the incomparable actress and multi-hyphenate

When she was a kid, Fann Wong attended the same children acting training course as fellow actor Bryan Wong. In an episode of Hear U Out, Fann Wong recounted that she was around seven or eight years old when the two flew kite together for their acting debut.

Another fun fact: Fann Wong was featured in the newspapers barely two hours after being born as she was one of the few children who was a Lunar New Year baby.

Fann Wong was shopping at Tangs with a friend when the pair was persuaded to have their makeup done and have a photo taken to be entered in a cover girl contest. Lo and behold, Fann Wong would end up winning the competition and fronted her first cover on the 1988 cover of Her World magazine.

Her modelling career flourished to the point where she explored opportunities in Taiwan and Japan. Fann Wong was also known for appearing in an Oil of Ulan (now Olay) commercial.

In 1994, a local television producer cast Fann Wong in what would become her debut drama Dreams Come True, thereby kickstarting her acting career. She later went on to star in Chronicle Of Life (1995). Her portrayal of Fang Ling led Fann Wong to clinch the Best Actress, Best Newcomer and Top 5 Most Popular Female Artistes titles at the 1995 Star Awards.

Fann Wong's acceptance speech, however, would come back to haunt her as her words "what else could I win next year" was seen as being arrogant, especially for a newbie in her first year.

She does music too

Play

4/10

Fann Wong has also released multiple albums, singles, and songs throughout her acting career. Have a listen to her debut album Fanntasy released in 1996.

Many of you might remember that Fann Wong was one of the first Singaporean actresses to star in a Hollywood production. In 2002, Fann Wong played Chon Lin in Jackie Chan's action comedy film Shanghai Knights. But did you know, Fann Wong wasn't actually Jackie Chan's first choice for the role? He revealed in a memoir that he wanted Hong Kong singer Faye Wong but the assistant director misheard and that was how Fann Wong eventually got the part.

Fann Wong once described her relationship with Zoe Tay as "we are just colleagues, not friends." Inevitably, it sparked endless comparisons between the two ah jies as they were seen as rivals.

Fann Wong opened up in 2021 about this competition stating that she felt stressed out and "very fortunate" to be compared to Zoe Tay. "Zoe was already an ah jie when I debuted, so to be able to be compared with her was a good thing. At least, that’s how I look at it now, but it gave me a lot of pressure back then ‘cos as soon as I joined showbiz, they said I was the next ah jies so I should be more like her."

Fun fact: The two were actually in the same Metro catalogue when they were both models.

Costing $5 million, Fann Wong and Christopher Lee's wedding ceremony was broadcast live on national television in September 2009. This came after a high-profile relationship as they were both among the top actors in the local entertainment scene. The couple welcomed their son Zed in 2014, who often appears on their social media platforms.

It wasn't love at first sight for the happy couple though. Fann Wong admitted that she thought Christopher Lee looked like an "uncle" when he was a contestant in the 1995 Star Search. When they worked together on The Return of the Condor Heroes (1998), Fann Wong found him smelly as he only had one outfit that couldn't be washed. Sparks only flew when they worked on Looking For Stars (2000) together.

And as a result of their relationship, Fann Wong also had to endure public scrutiny following Christopher Lee's prison sentence in 2007 for drink-driving and hit-and-run.

Like many of us, Fann Wong turned to baking at home as a way to cope with the 2o20 Circuit Breaker. In 2021, Fann Wong partnered with a licensed baker to launch her own online pastry shop named Fanntasy after her first album.

In November 2020, celebrity hairstylist David Gan revealed that Fann Wong had turned down an invitation from Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi to be on the popular Chinese reality show I Am The Actor. According to him, she rejected "this amazing and rare opportunity" due to pandemic-related travel restrictions and "logistical problems" with Christopher Lee's schedule as he was heading to Taiwan to film.

After appearing at the 2021 Star Awards, local aesthetic doctor Dr Siew Tuck Wah wrote an opinion piece about Fann Wong. In it, he detailed how his patients had noticed that her cheeks looked "unusually puffy" and a few had cancelled their filler appointments "for fear of becoming 'overfilled'".

A legal tussle between Fann Wong's management team and Dr Diew ensued as the former "threatened" to "sue for damages in defamation for alleging that Fann Wong had fillers done and "sue for the alleged unauthorised use of one of Fann Wong's pictures from her Instagram account", according to the AsiaOne report.

The case was eventually settled as Dr Siew had taken down the post.