Johor Sultan grants audience to top Chinese actress Fan Bingbing
JOHOR BARU, Dec 6 — Johor’s Sultan Ibrahim Sultan Iskandar today granted an audience to top-ranking Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.
Fan, once among China’s best-paid celebrities and who has a global following, made the courtesy call as part of her engagements at the 34th Singapore International Film Festival.
Her audience was facilitated by her Johor-born international manager, Jersey Chong.
The 42-year-old movie star and entertainer was also accompanied by her mother, Zhang Chuanmei, and younger brother, Fan Chengcheng, who is also a pop singer and actor in China.
In a post on Sultan Ibrahim’s Facebook page, Chong said that as a Johor native, she was proud that Sultan Ibrahim will be the next Yang di-Pertuan Agong.
“We wrote officially to the Johor Istana to enquire if Bingbing could call on His Highness.
“We were thrilled when the reply came that Tuanku Sultan has graciously agreed to meet Bingbing,” said Chong to the Royal Press Office.
Fan, who has 63 million followers on Weibo (China’s version of X, previously known as Twitter) and 4.1 million Instagram followers, is often touted as the face of global Chinese culture.
She is known for several Chinese-language projects such as serial period dramas My Fair Princess from 1998 to 1999 and psychological thriller Double Xposure (2012), as well as Hollywood blockbusters such as X-Men: Days Of Future Past (2014).
Fan’s recent major project was last year’s action spy film The 355. She was part of an ensemble cast with top actresses Jessica Chastain, Penelope Cruz, Diane Kruger and Lupita Nyong’o.
