Fan Bingbing
Actor & Singer
The popular Chinese actor has received attention from fashion brands for her elaborate red carpet looks at the Cannes Film Festival.
With an estimated net worth of $100 million, Chinese actor and style idol Fan Bingbing has been called “one of the world’s most successful actresses” by The Financial Times. “When I was 12 years old it was already my dream to become an actress. To experience other people’s joys and sorrows by playing their lives fascinates me,” she told the newspaper. Fan did indeed start early, having starred in the blockbuster dramedy "Princess Pearl" as a teenager, before starring in a string of box office hits and launching her own movie studio in 2007.
With her jet-black hair and doll-like features, Fan has also been widely admired by her fans and the fashion media for her red carpet and personal style, which wavers between avant-garde and classically sweet and elegant. She has also appeared on the cover of Vogue China, shot by photographer Patrick Demarchelier.
Born to a pop-singer father and dancer-actress mother and raised in the port city of Yantai, Fan attended Shanghai Xie Jin Star’s School and the acclaimed Shanghai Theatre Academy. After minor television commercial roles, she landed the supporting role of Jin Suo in the blockbuster hit "Princess Pearl" and its sequel, garnering her critical praise for her role. Since then, she has gone on to star in countless television dramas and feature films, earning the reputation of box office darling in her native China as well as from the Tokyo Film Festival.
In 2010, Fan splashed onto the scene at Cannes Film Festival in a "Dragon Robe," which she co-designed with Laurence Hsu. Subsequently, a duplicate was collected by the Victoria & Albert museum in London, and the original was sold to Madame Tussaud’s wax museums. She has won numerous awards for her personal style from Elle and Esquire, as well as Vanity Fair’s international best dressed list. In 2013, Louis Vuitton made her the face of Louis Vuitton in China.
In August 2016, Forbes released its annual list of world's best paid actresses in which Fan ranked number five with an annual income of $17 million. However, in May 2018, Fan was caught up in a tax evasion scandal that saw her owe $130 million to the Chinese state. She was placed under house arrest and later went off the public radar until late April 2019.
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