She works for the Television Art center of the People's Liberation Army Air Force.

Yan rose to fame for her role as Tong Xiangyu in My Own Swordsman, an 80 episode TV comedy-drama that tells the story of the happenings in a tavern during the Ming Dynasty.

In 2011 Yan had a supporting role in director Dayyan Eng's bilingual film Inseparable, which starred Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey.

In 2017 she reunited with her The North Wind co-star Xia Yu and director Dayyan Eng to star in the fantasy/comedy Wished, which debuted at the box office with the highest audience scores across the top four ticketing platforms for local Chinese comedies released that summer.

Yan will next be seen in the 2021 Hong Kong film Reindeer alongside Hu Ge.