After gaining recognition for the costume drama My Fair Princess (1998–1999), Fan's breakthrough came with Feng Xiaogang's blockbuster Cell Phone (2003), which won her the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress.

She followed with popular TV series such as The Proud Twins (2004), Eight Heroes (2006), and The Empress of China (2014) while collaborating with Li Yu on art-house films such as Lost in Beijing (2007), Buddha Mountain (2011), and Double Xposure (2012).

[6][7][8][9] She returned to acting with a cameo in South Korean TV show Insider (2022), followed by a starring role in Hong Kong film Green Night (2023).

Her grandfather, Fan Jie, was a general in the naval air force, and her grandmother gave her the Chinese character bing, or “ice,” to honor the family’s ties to the sea.

[14] In 1995, during her second year at high school, Fan was involved a car accident and spent three months recuperating in a hospital, where she watched the Taiwanese drama The Empress of the Dynasty, starring Angela Pan as Wu Zetian.

Fan played the starring role in the production, portraying a poor girl who fights for freedom against fate after being sold to a wealthy and influential clan.

[27] On 24 October, Buddha Mountain starring Fan premiered at the 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival, and earned her the Best Actress Award.

[30] In May, she appeared at the 64th Cannes Film Festival to promote My Way together with director Kang Je-gyu and actors Jang Dong-gun and Joe Odagiri.

[37] In the film Double Xposure, which was released in China on 29 September,[38] she portrays a girl who, after suffering trauma during childhood, experiences visual hallucinations after witnessing her father kill her mother.

[44][45] The same year, she starred alongside Aarif Rahman in the romantic comedy One Night Surprise, which aired on Chinese Valentine's Day.

[48] In 2014, Fan portrayed the mutant Blink (Clarice Ferguson) in the American superhero film X-Men: Days of Future Past.

[54] In the series The Empress of China, Fan portrays the titular character Wu Zetian, the only female emperor in Chinese history.

[59] In 2016, Fan, along with her then partner Li Chen, was invited as the final guest on the popular Taiwanese talk show Kangxi Coming before its closure.

She was featured in the action comedy Skiptrace alongside Jackie Chan and Johnny Knoxville, which won her Best Supporting Actress at the 1st Golden Screen Awards.

On May 27, former CCTV host Cui Yongyuan, who has a feud with the original film due to its alleged insinuations about his real life, posted on Weibo photos of a contract where Fan is paid CN¥10 million.

He also apologized to Fan for subjecting her to the investigation, stating that his targets were Feng Xiaogang and Liu Zhenyun, the director and the writer of Cell Phone.

[6][74] According to a later deleted Weibo post by Qiu Ziming, a former journalist for The Economic Observer, Fan was arrested while consulting a fortune-teller named Shen Aixu, who is known by the epithet “Little Immortal,” at Deji Plaza in Nanjing.

To maintain secrecy, they covered Fan’s head, escorted her from the elevator to the parking garage, and transported her to Beijing by police car.

[75] In 2021, the WeChat official account “Defenders,” a society of defense lawyers, disclosed that Shen, the “Little Immortal” arrested alongside Fan, had been sentenced to 12 years in prison.

[80] Mu remained out of public view until March 2023, when he attended the funeral of his uncle, veteran actor Yun-Peng Shang, in Taipei.

[82] According to Xinhua News Agency, from October 2018 to the end of the year, taxpayers in the entertainment industry "conducted self-inspections," and CN¥11.747 billion in taxes were declared.

[84] Fan made attempts at a comeback in China with varying degrees of success, with her publicity usually censored or shadowbanned on the Chinese internet.

Some defendants, after losing their cases, appealed for a second trial, claiming that as a scandal-hit public figure, her image no longer held commercial value.

[95] In the same year, Fan officially returned to acting with a cameo role in the South Korean TV series Insider (2022),[96] followed by a starring role in the Hong Kong-produced, South Korea-set independent film Green Night (2023), directed by Chinese director Han Shuai and premiered at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival in the Panorama section.

[99] In November and December 2024, two of Fan‘s earlier films, Bodyguards and Assassins (2009) and Sacrifice (2010), were screened in two themed retrospective exhibitions across China, marking the first time her works were shown in the country since her tax scandal.

[112][113] The dress, co-designed by Chinese designer Laurence Hsu and Fan herself, features two leaping dragons and crashing waves on the hem, in the bright yellow color that was exclusively used by emperors in ancient China.

[117] Inspired by a porcelain vase, the ancient vibe of her dress was complemented by her hairstyle, which made her look like a young maiden in the Tang dynasty.

[131][54] In April 2013, Fan became the Greater Chinese face of Louis Vuitton's "Chic on the bridge" advertising campaign, promoting the classic "Alma" handbag launched in 1934, shot by American fashion photographer Steven Klein.

[132][133] In December 2013, Fan starred as the global face of the Louis Vuitton's Spring/Summer 2014 collection, which marked Marc Jacobs's final advertising campaign for the brand, featuring alongside Catherine Deneuve, Sofia Coppola, Gisele Bündchen, Caroline de Maigret and Edie Campbell.

[137] Fan was named global ambassador of several brands such as ReFa Beauty Care Tools,[138] De Beers,[139] King Power,[140] and Montblanc.