The epic rise and fall of My Fair Princess’ cast: Zhao Wei and Fan Bingbing saw great success with the 1990s Chinese historical drama, so why didn’t it last?

Sep 24 , 2021

My Fair Princess was an iconic Chinese historical drama in the 1990s, so where are its cast members – like Fan Bingbing, Zhou Jie, Zhao Wei, and Alex Su – today? Photos: @bingbing_fan, @zhaoweiofficial, @alec_suyoupeng/Instagram; 娱圈鱼头/Weibo

Fan Bingbing starred in Marvel’s X-Men: Days of Future Past and was Forbes’ highest-paid Chinese celebrity for four years – then came those tax evasion charges

Zhao Wei became a millionaire – she and her tycoon husband Huang Youlong once had a combined net worth of over US$1 billion – but she vanished from showbiz too

Today, Chinese historical drama fans might be all about wuxia Word of Honor or time-travelling romcom My Heroic Husband, but before those popular titles came My Fair Princess.

The 1998–1999 TV series is set during the Qianlong Emperor’s Qing dynasty reign. While featuring a relatively unknown young cast at the time, it became a massive hit not only in China but across Asia, leading to the rise of some of the biggest Chinese stars of the time, including Zhao Wei, Ruby Lin, Alec Su, Zhou Jie, Zhang Tielin and Fan Bingbing.

After more than 20 years, these actors have faced dramatic ups and downs, but their current situations were unimaginable just a few years ago. So where are they all now?

Zhao Wei – the innocent Xiao Yanzi

Zhao Wei. Photo: @zhaoweiofficial/Instagram

From her instant success in My Fair Princess, Zhao Wei went on to star in other international hits, showcasing her acting talent and becoming one of the most powerful actresses in China.

Zhao’s achievements extend beyond acting too: she also won acclaim as a director after her debut film So Young set a record with an opening week revenue of US$56.8 million, according to China.org.cn.

Zhao also ventured into other fruitful businesses. At one point, she and her husband, businessman Huang Youlong, were jointly estimated to have a net worth of more than US$1 billion by Forbes.