Wong has, however, been busy with a series of TV dramas, including German TV movie House of Harmony with Maggie Q, The Lucky Stars, Magical Hands, Women of Time and Making Miracles.

Now, she's back on the big screen, playing a man in the body of a woman in Just Follow Law, Singaporean director Jack Neo's latest comedy.

'I've done a lot of period drama and contemporary drama,' Wong says. 'I've also done comedy, but this is very different. I really had to stretch myself and my acting abilities. I've never come across such a role. When Jack approached me I immediately said, 'Count me in'.'

Wong plays corporate executive Tanya Chew, who, after a freak accident, switches souls with blue-collar worker Lim Teng-zui (Gurmit Singh). It's far from the pretty, porcelain roles in historical dramas she's more often associated with.

To play a woman possessed by a man's soul, the actress had to change the way she spoke and moved. Playing a man was harder than she thought. 'The swearing part was quite hard,' she says. 'I had to rehearse swearing for a week to get it right. I didn't want to play a tomboy and I didn't want to play it butch. I wanted to be a man. This time I couldn't even argue with the director, because he knows better than me how a man would act!'

Wong came to light at 16 as a part-time model when she won a beauty contest. After completing a diploma in fashion merchandising at the Lasalle-SIA College of Arts, she moved to Taiwan in 1993 as a full-time model. She got her acting break when a Singaporean TV producer cast her in drama series When Dreams Come True as a materialistic career girl. Other TV series followed and in 1995 she won best actress as well as best newcomer at the MediaCorp Star Awards for her role in TV series Chronicle of Life, after which her acting career took off.

She fondly remembers her silver screen debut in The Truth About Jane & Sam by Hong Kong director Derek Yee Tung-shing, in which she was cast against type as a pill-popper and boozer, winning a nomination for best newcomer at the Hong Kong Film Awards in 2000.'It was my first film and it made a few people realise I could do something very different from my TV roles.'

She followed up with another Hong Kong drama, When I Fall in Love ... With Both, before gaining global recognition with her role in Shanghai Knights. 'I went for an audition in London with director David Dobkin. I did a test alone and I guess we had chemistry, because when I left his office he told me, 'See you in Prague', where the shooting was going to take place,' she says.

Having already done wire work and kung fu in her numerous TV roles, she felt right at home on the set, although she found some of the stunts and Chan's pace hard to cope with. After the film was released, favourable comparisons were quickly drawn with Chinese-American actor Lucy Liu, who starred with Chan and Wilson in Shanghai Noon. 'Of course I'd like to do another Hollywood film, but the right script needs to come along,' Wong says. 'It doesn't matter where the script is from, and besides, we have lots of wonderful films that are being produced in other parts of the world.'

There has been talk of a third Shanghai film, but no action. 'I guess Jackie is too busy,' she says, confiding that Chan had considered making her character pregnant with Wilson's baby.

Although Wong has also had a successful career as a singer, cutting several albums and winning music awards, she's planning to concentrate more on acting. 'It's quite hard to weave between acting and singing, especially now that singers have to do a lot of promotional work and concerts. I feel I'm more of an actress.'

Her mainland Chinese fan base, which has grown since the hit TV drama The Return of the Condor Heroes, will soon see a lot more of her. Having signed with Huayi Brothers, one of China's largest entertainment conglomerates, she's planning to focus her career on filming in China. 'I already spend a lot of time there - more than anywhere else. That's where the action is.'

Just Follow Law opens on Thursday