Lucy Liu
Lucy Liu at the 2011 Kung Fu Panda 2 premiere
Born	Lucy Liu (1968-12-02) December 2, 1968 (age 43) Queens, New York, United States
Alma mater	University of Michigan (B.A.)
Occupation	Actress, producer, singer
Years active	1989–present
Partner	Will McCormack (2004–present)

Lucy Alexis Liu (Chinese: 劉玉玲; pinyin: Liú Yùlíng; born December 2, 1968) is an American actress, singer and film producer. She became known for playing the role of the vicious and ill-mannered Ling Woo in the television series Ally McBeal (1998–2002), and has also appeared in several Hollywood films including Payback, Charlie's Angels, Chicago, Kill Bill, and Kung Fu Panda. In 2012, Liu joined the cast of the TNT original series Southland.

Personal life[link]

Liu was born in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. In high school, she adopted her middle name "Alexis".^[1] She is the youngest of three children born to Cecilia, who worked as a biochemist, and Tom Liu, who was a civil engineer.^[2] Both of Liu's parents were immigrants from Taiwan of Chinese descent. Her grandparents were born and raised in China.^[3] She has an older brother, John,^[4][5][6][7] and an older sister, Jenny.^[8] Liu has stated that she grew up in a "diverse" neighborhood. She learned to speak Mandarin Chinese at home and began studying English when she was five years old.^[9]

Liu attended Joseph Pulitzer Middle School (I.S.145). She graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1986.^[10] She enrolled at New York University and transferred to the University of Michigan, where she was a member of the Chi Omega sorority. Liu earned a bachelor's degree in Asian Languages and Cultures. In Michigan, Liu worked as a waitress.^[11]

In 2004, Liu was engaged to Zach Helm, whom she had met the year before. She called off the engagement and immediately began a relationship with Will McCormack.^[12] She lives with her brother John and his wife in New York.^[13]

Career[link]

1989–1999[link]

In 1989, Liu auditioned for the University of Michigan's production of Alice in Wonderland during her senior year of college. Although she had originally only tried out for a supporting part,^[14] Liu was cast in the lead role.

Liu had small roles in films and TV, marking her debut. She was cast in The X-Files in "Hell Money" and Hercules: The Legendary Journeys in "The March to Freedom" before landing a role on Ally McBeal. Liu originally auditioned for the role of 'Nelle Porter' (played by Portia de Rossi), and the character Ling Woo was later created specifically for her. Liu's part on the series was originally temporary, but high audience ratings secured Liu as a permanent cast member. Additionally, she earned an Emmy^[15] nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy Series.^[14] In Payback (1999), Liu portrayed Pearl, a young woman who works for the Chinese mafia.

2000–2006[link]

Liu was cast as Alex Munday in the Charlie's Angels film with Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz. The film opened in November 2000 and was a hit, earning more than $125 million in the United States. Charlie's Angels earned a worldwide total of more than $264 million. The sequel, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, opened in June 2003 and was also ranked highly, earning more than $100 million in the U.S., and a worldwide total of more than $259 million. In contrast, Liu starred with Antonio Banderas in Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever, a critical and box office failure.

In 2000, she hosted Saturday Night Live with Jay-Z. Liu starred as lawyer Grace Chin on Ugly Betty in the episodes "Derailed" and "Icing on the Cake". In a 2001 episode of Sex and the City entitled "Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda" she guest starred as herself, playing a new client of character Samantha Jones, who does public relations. She starred in the Sex and the City inspired TV show, Cashmere Mafia on ABC. Liu also made a cameo appearance on the animated shows Futurama (as herself and/or robot duplicates thereof in the episodes "I Dated a Robot" and "Love and Rocket") and The Simpsons (on the season sixteen episode "Goo Goo Gai Pan").

In 2002, Liu played Rita Foster in Vincenzo Natali's Brainstorm (aka Cypher). Soon thereafter, she appeared as O-Ren Ishii in Quentin Tarantino's 2003 film, Kill Bill. She won an MTV Award for "Best Movie Villain" for the part. Subsequently, Liu appeared on several episodes of Joey with Matt LeBlanc, who played her love interest in the Charlie's Angels films. She also had minor roles as Kitty Baxter in the film Chicago, and as a psychologist opposite Keira Knightley in the thriller Domino.

In Lucky Number Slevin, she played the leading love interest to Josh Hartnett. 3 Needles was released on December 1, 2006. Liu portrayed Jin Ping, an HIV-positive Taiwanese woman.^[16]

2007–present[link]

In 2007, Liu appeared in Code Name: The Cleaner, Rise, a supernatural thriller co-starring Michael Chiklis in which Liu plays an undead reporter^[9] (for which she was ranked #41 on "Top 50 Sexiest Vampires"),^[17] and Watching the Detectives, an independent romantic comedy co-starring Cillian Murphy. She made her producer debut and also starred in a remake of Charlie Chan, which had been planned as early as 2000.^[14] The film is still being worked on for a release in 2012 or 2013

In 2007, Empire named Liu #96 of their "100 Sexiest Movie Stars".^[18] The producers of Dirty Sexy Money created a role for Liu as a series regular. Liu played Nola Lyons, a powerful attorney who faced Nick George (played by Peter Krause).^[19] Liu voiced Silvermist in Disney Fairies and Viper in Kung Fu Panda.^[14]

In March 2010, Liu made her Broadway debut in the Tony Award-winning play God of Carnage as Annette on the second replacement cast alongside Jeff Daniels, Janet McTeer and Dylan Baker.^[20] In March 2012, she was cast as Joan Watson for Elementary. Elementary is a American Sherlock Holmes adaption, and the role Liu was offered is traditionally played by men.^[21] She is also doing the TNT TV show Southland playing Police Officer Jessica Tang.

Activism[link]

Liu speaking at the USAID Human Trafficking Symposium in September 2009

Liu, who is an artist in several media, has had three gallery shows showcasing her collage, paintings, and photography.^[22] She began doing collage mixed media when she was 16 years old, and became a photographer and painter.^[13] In September 2006, Liu held an art show and donated her share of the profits to UNICEF.^[13][23] She also had another show in 2008 in Munich. Liu has stated that she donated her share of the profits to UNICEF.^[13]

In 2001, Liu was the spokesperson for the Lee National Denim Day fundraiser which raises millions of dollars for breast cancer research and education.^{[citation needed]} In 2005, Liu was appointed an ambassador for U.S. Fund for UNICEF. She traveled to Pakistan and Lesotho, among several other countries.^[14] She also hosted an MTV documentary for the MTV EXIT campaign in 2007, produced to raise awareness of human trafficking in Asia.^{[citation needed]} Early in 2006, Liu received an "Asian Excellence Award" for Visibility.^{[citation needed]} Liu is a supporter of marriage equality for gays and lesbians, and she became a spokesperson in 2009.^[24]

Liu is also a singer for the musical group The Bullitts.

Filmography[link]

Television[link]

TV guest appearances[link]

Producer[link]

Video games[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lucy Liu

• Lucy Liu at the Internet Movie Database
• Lucy Liu at Emmys.com