Fan Bingbing (center) attends a Shanghai media event to promote the upcoming movie The Moon & The Sun. Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn

Chinese actress Fan Bingbing is seemingly securing her image as one of the country's top homegrown stars attached to foreign and collaborative projects. The 34-year-old is part of several upcoming movies such as The Moon and The Sun (US), The Lady in the Portrait (Sino-French production) and Lady of The Dynasty (jointly made by China, South Korea and Japan).

In the upcoming US fantasy movie, inspired by a prize-winning novel, Fan stars as a mermaid captured by the immorality-seeking French king Louis XIV, played by Pierce Brosnan.

"I participated in the movie in a very particular way. The producers wanted a mermaid with an oriental face," Fan said at a recent media event.

The Lady in the Portrait revolves on royal conflicts during the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911) from a French painter's eyes. In the movie, Fan stars as an empress whose portraits are made by the artist.