| Fan Bingbing | |
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| Appeared in | X-Men: Days of Future Past |
Fan Bingbing will portray Blink in X-Men: Days of Future Past.
Career
1997-1999: Rising to Stardom
In 1997, Fan Bingbing rose to stardom for her supporting role as Jin Suo in the Chinese television drama Princess Pearl and its sequel in 1998. Before Princess Pearl, she had played some walk-on parts in some crews for almost 2 years. It was the Hongkong actress Liu Xuehua that recommended her to the Princess Pearl crew. Then Fan Bingbing signed an eight-year contract with Chiung Yao’s company, which was the producer of Princess Pearl. But the company had not yet set up an office or a branch office in the Mainland in 1998, so many television advertising arrangements must call to Taiwan to negotiate, and that wasted a lot of things. Fan Bingbing and her mother wanted to end this contract, but the company claimed a ¥1 million compensation. Because the contract was illegal due to Fan Bingbing’s age, under the coordination of the court, Fan Bingbing paid ¥200,000 to end the contract.
2000-2007: Time in Huayi Brothers
In 2000, Fan Bingbing joined a company belonged to Wang Jinghua, who is a well-known artists manager in mainland China. At the end of 2000, Wang Jinghua became the general manager of Huayi Brothers, so Fan Bingbing followed Wang Jinghua and signed a six-year contract with Huayi Brothers. During the time in Huayi, Fan Bingbing starred in many television series, such as Young Justice Bao II (2001), Red Poppies (2002), adapted from the Mao Dun Literature Prize novel, and The Proud Twins (2005), adapted from Gu Long's novel Juedai Shuangjiao.
She also starred in many movies. In 2003, She starred in Feng Xiaogang's Cell Phone, which earned her a Best Actress Award at the 27th Hundred Flowers Awards, a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the 24th Golden Rooster Awards and an Outstanding New Actress nomination from the 10th Huabiao Awards. She also appeared inThe Lion Roars (2002), The Twins Effect II (2004), A Chinese Tall Story (2005), A Battle of Wits (2006), The Matrimony (2007) and Flash Point (2007). For the role in A Battle of Wits, She received a Golden Bauhinia Awards nomination.
Fan Bingbing released her first album Just Begun in 2005. In 2006, Forbes China gave its most prized award, the Star of the Year, to Fan Bingbing, for her popularity, high press coverage and website hits in last year.
About the six-year cooperation with Huayi, Fan Bingbing said,
"Huayi gave me a lot of opportunities. It has a very good team and the spirit of cooperation. I also tried my best. The six years really are a non-stop time. In the company, everyone calls me Astro Boy. I did the most works, and I am the person who able to endure the most hardship. I am 25 years old now, from 25 years old to 30 years old, I think that whatever life will experience or career will confront, the period is a very important juncture, or a crossroad for me, and I do not want to be too hasty to make any decisions."
2007-present: Own Studio
From February 2007, Fan Bingbing left Huayi Brothers, and then started her own studio, Fan Bingbing Studio. 2007 was a year of abundance for Fan Bingbing. 8 films She starred in were released in China. In December 2007, She won the Best Supporting Actress Award at the 44th Golden Horse Film Awards for her role in The Matrimony. She also won the Best Actress Award of 4th Euro-asia International Film Festival for the film Lost in Beijing.
In 2008. Fan Bingbing started an arts school in Huairou, Beijing, and served as its principal, but the school was actually run by her parents. She also became the leader of the acting team of West Movie Group's arts center. This year her studio made its first television production Rouge Snow (2008), adapted from the novel of the same name, in which she portrayed a poor girl, sold to a wealthy and influential clan, fighting for freedom against fate.
In 2009, her studio produced The Last Night of Madam Chin, also adapted from the same name novel written by Bai Xianyong, was a story about a beautiful dancing girl’s legendary life. This year Fan Bingbing starred in Shinjuku Incident and Sophie's Revenge. She also appeared in Bodyguards and Assassins, which earned her a Best Supporting Actress nomination from the Hong Kong Film Awards.
In 2010, Fan Bingbing starred in Chen Kaige’s film Sacrifice. She also appeared in Wang Xiaoshuai's film Chongqing Blues, which premiered at the 63rd Cannes Film Festival. On October 24, Fan Bingbing's another film Buddha Mountain premiered at the 23rdTokyo International Film Festival, which earned her the Best Actress Award.
In 2011, Fan Bingbing starred in Shaolin, The Founding of a Party and Stretch with Nicolas Cazalé and David Carradine. On March 4, the film Buddha Mountain was released in mainland China. On April 28, Fan Bingbing won the Best Actress Award at the 18thBeijing College Student Film Festival for her role in Buddha Mountain. In May, she appeared at the 64th Cannes Film Festival to promote her film My Way together with director Kang Je-gyu and South Korean actor Jang Dong-gun along with Japanese actor Joe Odagiri. In October, she became one member of the International Competition Jury of 24th Tokyo International Film Festival.
In the first half of 2012, it seemed that Fan Bingbing was not focused on movie, but fashion. She attended many fashion shows in Paris. On May 16, She attended the opening ceremony of 65th Cannes Film Festival as the only global spokesperson from Asia on behalf of Paris L’Oreal. On May 21, Forbes ranked Fan Bingbing No. 3 on the 2012 Forbes China Celebrity 100List, according to Fan’s success in the past year. Until July 17, she backed to movie with the first press conference of her film Double Xposure. She also attended The Voice of China final concert to promote the film. This film was released in mainland China on September 29. In this film, she portrayed a girl who suffered childhood trauma and experienced visual hallucinations after witnessing her father killed her mother. Most of the film critics gave overwhelmingly high praise to Fan Bingbing's performance. This film was a huge financial success, with a domestic gross of more than ¥100 million. Now Fan Bingbing is shooting the romantic comedy film Surprise in One Night. In January 2013, it was reported that she would also have a role in the Hollywood film Iron Man 3.