Naturally, like everybody else, I have heard and read "tons of gossip" about FANN WONG, the popular SINGAPOORE Media Corp belle over the years, but that's normal for any artiste to be talked about. BAD NEWS IS STILL NEWS and it's better to be a subject of controversy than not at all. Gossip garners publicity, and as long as it's not malicious, it doesn't hurt.
So it's about time I write my piece on FANN WONG as a "fitting tribute", and happily so too.
No, I do not claim to know FANN's private persona, but I had collaborated professionally with her when she was a top-notched model with the now defunct IMP MODEL AGENCY in Singapore sited at Specialist Center, Orchard Road once upon a time.
FANN WONG had a glorious modeling career in the early 90s when she was managed by IDA ONG, the affable, serious and no-nonsense owner of IMP.
We had worked on a gamut of print ads with ace fashion photographer WEE KHIM, and a slew of television commercials in 1990/1 when I was helming key fashion and high profile superstore accounts with an international Ad Agency in Singapore, and FANN was already showing great promise then as an aspiring actress.
One day, out of curiosity, I presented her with a script for a reading at the IMP's office with veteran actress CHIA PING KAI and lo and behold - FANN read the impromptu script with relish and excitement, infusing feelings in her lines. Having known her as a model, I was therefore taken aback. Models usually cannot act or read parts without the acquired training, but there was FANN, like a fish "out of water", gasping for every breath to prove her worth.
FANN was a media darling - always stoic, hardworking and on-time for her shoots with us. All the production crew loved her. She had a face that could launch a thousand ships and a spontaneous smile to "die for".
Why did I use past tense here? Because I have not been in touch with FANN WONG more than ten years as I spend most of my time in Asia, and time has really flown.
I understand from industry insiders that she was discovered by one talent scout with Singapore Media Corp in 1994 and she debuted in a well received television drama series called DREAM COMES TRUE. From then on, she morphed from the twenty something leading actress to Singapore's favourite AH JIE (supreme big sister or superstar so to speak).
In the years to follow, FANN WONG always electrifies as the glowingly beautiful damsel, and she was a hot contender to only one La Femme contender ZOE TAY who gives her a run for her money.
The only difference is that ZOE TAY has been married for some years and has two children whilst FANN is still the ultimate single girl but not-at-all available. She has screen hunk CHRISTOPHER LEE as her beau and they are tying the knots some time next year, according to grapevine news.
Are FANN and ZOE great pals? Two's company but in tinseltown it's hard to maintain heart-to-heart camaraderie with your closest rival, despite the brave front you may want to put up. Either you die or I perish, la.
Each would have her own clique of bosom buddies. Bravo.
FANN has been criticized by some die-hards to be a "phoney" or "superficial", but this one I am not sure.
But ZOE TAY is heavily lauded to be a super nice AH JIE who takes care of her friends. Many long years ago, when ZOE still owned a pet farm in PASIR RIS SINGAPORE, I dropped in to check out a chihuahua. She was there and she personally came up to me and extended a warm welcome. She needn't have to, but she took the trouble.
This is the wonderful side of ZOE, the maestro with the fashionista touch.
In the feature film arena, FANN WONG has a better standing. Producers and fans can't get enough of her. She has starred in Hollywood blockbusters with JACKIE CHAN and OWEN WILSON in SHANGHAI KNIGHTS and DANCE OF THE DRAGON with JASON SCOTT LEE.
Closer to home, she has recently scored in Singapore's most beloved slapstick director JACK NEO's JUST FOLLOW LAW and AH LONG PTE LTD. In one, she played a corporate hussy and the other, a gangster moll. Both local movies earned scathing media reviews for bad scripting, but boomed gleefully at the box office. Cheers.
FANN WONG has always been written in a heightened way and living in a heightened world, so there must be an appealing quality about her.
There's of course, the usual bad-blood rumour every now and then, but she will be a true grit survivor on this.
Life for her is a song. No less.
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