Abstract: Artificial cells are synthetic microcompartments that possess structural or functional characteristics of living cells, serving as an essential bridge between non-living materials and biological systems. Research on artificial cells provides fundamental insights into the origin of life and enables the design of novel bioactive materials, emerging as a multidisciplinary focus across materials science, chemistry, and biomedicine. This review systematically summarizes recent progress in artificial cell construction and materials, including lipid vesicles, polymer vesicles, and coacervates. The primary directions of artificial cell functionalization are outlined, encompassing growth, division, metabolism, energy transduction, information processing and communication. Furthermore, recent advances in the biomedical applications of artificial cells are highlighted, particularly in disease diagnosis, drug delivery, biomimetic functionality, synthetic biology-based bioreactors, and artificial tissue engineering. Finally, the challenges associated with material selection, structural complexity, and functional integration are discussed, along with an outlook on the future development of artificial cells in intelligent therapeutics, synthetic life, and regenerative systems.