To the Moon and Back

Not content with conquering the heights of Caldecott and then Hollywood hills, Fann Wong has flown to the moon to realise her star destiny. UrbanWire finds out what's next for this overachiever.

By Ronald Wan · UrbanWire
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Fann Shot: Fann Wong with writer Ronald Wan

Rumoured to be enamoured with a handsome colleague-cum-beau, showered with a bevy of high-priced fashionable clothes and armed with high-flyer friends (including celebrity hairstylist David Gan), Fann Wong reminds us of Hollywood diva Jennifer Lopez and all the insecurities and jealousies that come with such overwhelming success. Thus, it's hardly a surprise that the local media over the years has portrayed the princess of Caldecott Hill to be an icy and difficult person to interview, or rather, a diva we both love to hate and hate to love.

Such notions are undeserved, immature and thrown out of the windows when I approach Fann for an interview at her Moon Fairy and Always on My Mind press conference. She shakes hands politely and lets out a girlish whine, "Your hands are so cold, same as mine!" Fann is visibly cold (I had to restrain myself from hugging her to give her some warmth) but not otherwise, as evident in her megawatt-smile and eagerness during the interview. Somehow, her infamously purported aloofness seems more like a myth taken from her period dramas.

Fann & foes
Fann repartee
Shanghai Lady
A Simple Wish
Time Out
Baby Boom

Fann & foes
Fann has had her fair share of detractors for the past decade, considering the number of controversies she was involved in - from the contract dispute and temporary suspension with the then TCS (Television Corporation of Singapore) to her infamous speech at the 1995 Star Awards ("Now that I've won the Best Actress award, what's there for me next year?"). No wonder we see Fann building walls around her for the past few years, shielding herself from public and media scrutiny.

The actress-singer-model who turns 33 on Jan 27 reflects in a mixture of English and Mandarin, "I have learned a lot of things in life. I learn how to deal with work under pressure, communicate better with my colleagues and the media, and also how to understand the complexity of human's emotions on a higher level."

Fann repartee
Fann has certainly wised up. In fact, the wide-eyed actress sounds awfully sincere and straight forward when asked about her next Hollywood project after starring in Shanghai Knights with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson last year. "People are wondering why am I not taking up offers from Hollywood. It is not because I am choosy. It [is as if] the rest of the films and shows that are not Hollywood are not worth doing?" she retorts in her sweetest smile. I quickly suggest that since she is the first local actress to appear in a major Hollywood movie (Annabel Chong doesn't count), the local audience has high expectations of her, hence the curiosity over her next Tinseltown appearance.

Fann looks mildly surprised and replies with a grin, "I want to thank everyone for supporting me. There are a lot of different mechanics involved in appearing in a major movie and I have to be selective with the scripts. But still, I want to do something in Asia too."

Diamonds are forever: Fann at Star Awards

Shanghai Lady
Fann, who appeared with Hong Kong actor Peter Ho in The Truth about Jane and Sam and another Asian movie When I Fall in Love…With Both, elaborates on her keenness to act in Asia, "I want to act in a movie set in the 40s in Shanghai because that is a period when China is becoming very modern and there are many heroes appearing."

Besides acting in an Asian movie, the former student from Temasek Secondary School also wants to "appear in stage plays" and also be a "cartoon voice-over" because she feels "everyone is a child at heart". With her giggles punctuating the interview incessantly, we can hardly disagree.

A Simple Wish
From her famous Oil of Olay commercial back in 1990 to her most recent face plastered on cans of New Moon abalones, Fann is the Queen of endorsements in the local scene here. But she has a secret desire to endorse a certain product. "I love bird nest! I do not mind them sponsoring me for the rest of my life!" she laughs. Manufacturers selling bird nest, you heard it here on UrbanWire first.

Fann wears Armani clothes (for free) and eats abalones (for free too!), and such lavishness in life is well deserved, considering the rigours of her career path in the past. The 172 cm tall actress started out as the winner of a cover girl contest for Her World magazine back in 1988 and went on to be a successful model, actress, singer all rolled in one.

The overachiever released 5 solo albums (Fanntasy, I Live Alone, Shopping, Missing You, No Problem), acted in more than a dozen MediaCorp dramas, and consistently won awards at the Star Awards (the most notable of which includes the Special Achievement award in 2000). Her typical day includes "waking up at 5am for filming and returning home at 1am or 2am and still having to read the script for the shoot next day".

Time Out

It certainly alarms the cynic in me that Fann - the lean actress weighs at about 50 kg - is still pumping the fuel into her fast-driven life. Celebrities often take a break after facing constant pressures and demands in their line of work (take a look at songbird Stefanie Sun) but that mantra doesn't seem to apply for Fann.
"I ask myself, 'Why am I dealing with all this stress and nonsense because it is just not worth it, but after a day or 2 of rest, I would want to go back to work. I love what I am doing now, so there is no need for me to stop just yet," she reasons. However, fans of her music would be rather disappointed because the workaholic isn't planning to "release any album at the moment".

Still, fans can get to see Fann in an upcoming overseas production where Fann will act as Zhong Wuyen, the female warrior with a red birthmark across half of her face. "I will be acting with Gallen Lo and I am so happy because I am a big fan of him!" she enthuses.

Baby Boom
Fann, at 32, is a closet mother hen. "I love kids, and I guess I should be having a lot of kids 10 years from now," she enthuses. With whom she is clueless, although she has a rough idea what type of soul mate she would love to have. "My ideal boyfriend would be someone who is caring, and who can give me space and love me at the same time. He has to give me a lot of strength, and after a hard day's work, he must shower me with tender loving care."

And true to her typical onscreen roles as lovelorn characters, she is "still trying to figure out what love is".

It is a powerful and poignant statement from Fann herself that we thought could only be uttered in 1 of her lovey-dovey shows. On the contrary, the statement is very real and struck a chord indeed. Despite a life filled with all the richness, extravagance, hard work, success, Armani, abalones and Star Award trophies, Fann remains unfulfilled in 1 aspect of life that eludes her till this day - love.