The Hollywood Reporter (THR), a highly respected entertainment magazine, has chosen Chinese actress and fashion icon Fan Bingbing for its International Artist of the Year award.
It is the first time that THR is giving the award, which is meant to recognize a “rising global celebrity whose work has the power to affect entertainment around the world,” according to THR’s website.
“With recent and upcoming appearances in major Hollywood movies attracting worldwide attention Fan is the quintessential inaugural recipient of THR’s International Artist of the Year award, THR Editorial Director Janice Min said of the decision.
Although a top actress within China for a decade and a half, Fan is quickly becoming the country’s most recognizable actresses abroad, despite not having yet appeared in any Hollywood blockbusters.
That is about to change.
Fan was featured in the Chinese version of Iron Man 3, which broke records in the country for opening day box offices sales, and will soon appear on the big screen for audiences worldwide as the teleporting mutant “Blink” in the upcoming film X Men: Days of Future Past. The movie, which is currently being filmed, is being directed by Bryan Singer, who has directed other X Men films as well as The Usual Suspects.
It was also recently announced that Fan will also star opposite Jackie Chan in the forthcoming action comedy English-language film Skiptrace, which will be co-produced and co-financed by Exclusive Media.
THR is not the only publication to recognize Fan’s growing stature in the film-making industry. Fan recently displaced the Taiwanese star Jay Chou as China’s top celebrity on Forbes China’s annual China’s Celebrity 100 list.
Nor are Fan’s talents limited solely to acting. As THR notes in an article on Fan that will appear in its forthcoming issue, the Chinese actress is also being hailed as a global fashion icon, linking designer brands in the West to China’s growing luxury market.
The THR article reports that for the 2013 Oscar awards in Los Angeles, Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein had his wife fly in a dress for Fan to wear last minute from New York City on a private airplane.
“[Compared to other Asian stars], Fan seems to have the most fun with fashion,” THR quotes Catherine Kallon, founder of the U.K.-based blog Red Carpet Fashion Awards, as saying in the article. “She’s more of a risk-taker.”
Fan will officially receive the award for International Artist of the Year at an exclusive party at the Cannes International Film Festival on May 18.