Chinese actress Fan Bingbing (pictured) was just 17 years old when she appeared as a fragile maid in 1998's popular TV drama, Princess Pearl.

Then, viewers were impressed only with her Barbie doll face, and few predicted Fan would become one of the country's hottest and most controversial actresses.

But even with two new movies out, and a Hollywood blockbuster still in the pipeline, Fan is yet to shake the local critics who undermine her every move.

Disappeared from the public eye after her TV debut, Fan returned to the screen minus her baby fat with her breakout performance in director Feng Xiaogang's Cell Phone, as Wu Yue, a mistress who pursuits fame and gain. People were surprised by her choice of role, and her new, bold public image.

"I wanted something different, fresh and challenging," Fan said in an exclusive interview with BJW.

Eight years since her screen debut, she has made the Forbes Top 10 list of Chinese celebrities, proving her commercial worth, influence, and headline value.

The beauty's fame continues to rise, and she stars in the new film Sweet Revenge, opening on April 13. Co-starring Nick Cheung and Anthony Wong, the film marks quite a departure from Fan's last thriller movie, the ghost horror The Matrimony.

In Sweet Revenge, where fate turns hunger for love into thirst for revenge, Fan plays a dying girl who has never tasted love. She discovers she is sleeping with her parents' murderer.

And in the upcoming $800 million budgeted film, City with No Mercy, Fan turns from her previous role as a footbath maid in the film, Apple, to a beer girl.

In this gangster film, she plays the girlfriend of an undercover policeman, played by Louis Koo. Directed by Hong Kong director Wilson Yip, City with No Mercy is set to hit Chinese cinemas during the May Day holiday.

Fan has also been chosen as the female lead in a new Hollywood blockbuster entitled, Relapsing, opposite Michael Keaton, the leading actor in Batman.

But with Fan's increasing exposure on TV, film and in commercials, has come the rumors that have spread like a kind of disease, winning the 26-year-old the title of "gossip queen".

Much of the vitriol has targeted the slender figure, fair skin, and big eyes that have enabled Fan to portray an innocent, but slightly foxy, mystique on screen.

According to the rumor mill, Fan got her fame by fooling around with film tycoons and agents. Recently, she announced that she is ready to leave her well-known agent, Huayi Brothers, who she's been with for six years. Again according to rumor, this split may be due to the "special relationship" she has with the company's leading men the Wang brothers themselves.

Fan told the media that she would manage herself. "It's time for me to explore my own path," she said.

Rumors about her Mr. Right have never been confirmed, and unfounded, front-page reports of "amorous affairs" in many tabloids have bothered the actress a lot. Fan blamed media for negative coverage of her love affairs. "It is you guys that block me from having a steady courtship with someone I love," the actress said in an interview in Berlin.

"I have no idea why people are so curious about me. I was angry at the beginning, but later I realized that I don't have to care about that annoying stuff," she said. "I won't explain anything. Time will prove everything."

And while viewers may doubt her talent, Fan continues to score most local opportunities in major productions. Her movie, Lost in Beijing, came away empty-handed from the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year, but she left a deep impression on the international media.

Fan is often compared with fellow star Zhang Ziyi, especially since becoming the second Chinese star after Zhang to be invited by the Giorgio Armani team to meet the fashion icon.

But there is a perception that at least Zhang's acting has impressed directors and audiences. Detractors have questioned the pretty face on which they claim Fan relies, landing her in a plastic surgery scandal.

Fan's priority now is to learn English in preparation for her role in Relapsing. She plans to devote all her spare time to learning English in order to give her best performance in this film.

Sweet Revenge is playing in cinemas in Beijing until May 1.

(China Daily 04/11/2007 page7)