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).

[5][6][7][8] 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.

[13] 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.

[17][18] In the same year, she signed a three-year contract with Jia Yun, a Chinese entrepreneur who became her confidant and was later wanted for "illegally absorbing public deposits" in 2007.

In 2002, Fan established Huairou Fanbingbing Film & Television Art Training School and a production and publicity company, both in the charge of her mother.

In 2003, Fan starred in Cell Phone, which became China's highest-grossing film of the year and earned her the Hundred Flowers Award for Best Actress.

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.

[31] 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.

[38] In the film Double Xposure, which was released in China on 29 September,[39] she portrays a girl who, after suffering trauma during childhood, experiences visual hallucinations after witnessing her father kill her mother.

[45][46] The same year, she starred alongside Aarif Rahman in the romantic comedy One Night Surprise, which aired on Chinese Valentine's Day.

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

[60] 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 had a feud with the original film due to its alleged insinuations about his real life, posted on Weibo photos of a contract showing that Fan was 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.

[5][75] 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.

[76] 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.

[81] 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] Although rumors have suggested that Mu served four years in prison to protect Fan by taking the blame, Chinese authorities have never disclosed whether he was sentenced following his arrest.

[83] 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.

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

[101] 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.

[114][115] 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.

[119] 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.

[133][55] 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.

[134][135] 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.

[139] Fan was named global ambassador of several brands such as ReFa Beauty Care Tools,[140] De Beers,[141] King Power,[142] and Montblanc.

In August 2014, while working together again on The Empress of China, the TV series produced by Fan, the two were photographed sharing the same hotel room at night.