Lucy Liu

**Lucy Alexis Liu** (born December 2, 1968) is an American actress, voice actress, model, and producer, who ho is known for playing the role of Ling Woo in the FOX television series *Ally McBeal* (1998–2002), O-Ren Ishii in the 2003 Quentin Tarantino film *Kill Bill*, and Joan Watson on the CBS-TV crime-drama series *Elementary*.
Lucy is also a voice actress and has voiced Master Viper in the *Kung Fu Panda* film franchise (2008-2016). She also voiced Silvermist in *Tinker Bell* (2008), Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure (2009), *Tinker Bell and the Great Fairy Rescue* (2010), *Pixie Hollow Games* (2011), *Secret of the Wings* (2012), *The Pirate Fairy* (2014), and *Tinker Bell and the Legend of the NeverBeast* (2015). Her other voice credits include *Mulan II* (2004), as well as the English and Mandarin-dubbed versions of *Magic Wonderland* (2014) and *The Tale of the Princess Kaguya* (2013).

In 2008, she starred in an ABC comedy-drama, Cashmere Mafia, as Mia Mason, which ended after one abbreviated season. The show was one of only a few American television shows to have an Asian American series lead. In 2012, Liu joined the cast of the TNT series Southland in the recurring role of Jessica Tang, for which she won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Guest Actress.

## Early life and career

 File:Lucy Liu HS Yearbook.jpeg
Liu was born on December 2, 1968, in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. In high school, she adopted a middle name, Alexis. She is the youngest of three children born to Cecilia, who worked as a biochemist, and Tom Liu, a trained civil engineer who sold digital clock pens. Liu's parents originally came from Beijing and Shanghai and immigrated to Taiwan as adults before meeting in New York. She has an older brother, John, and an older sister, Jenny. Her parents worked many jobs while Lucy and her siblings were growing up.

Lucy has stated that she grew up in an ethnically diverse neighborhood. She learned to speak Mandarin at home and began studying English when she was 5. She studied the martial art *kali-eskrima-silat* as a hobby when she was young. Liu attended Joseph Pulitzer Middle School (I.S.145), and graduated from Stuyvesant High School. She later enrolled at New York University and transferred to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan, where she was a member of the Chi Omega sorority. Liu earned a bachelor's degree in Asian languages and cultures. She worked as a waitress at the Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase club circa 1988–89.

Liu had small roles in films and TV, marking her debut. In 1993, she appeared in an episode of the NBC-TV legal drama series *L.A. Law* as a Chinese widow giving her evidence in Mandarin.

In 1995, she played a young Chinese single mother of a 4 year old with AIDS on the second season of the NBC-TV medical/drama series *ER* for 3 episodes. In 1996, Liu landed her first role in the main cast of a television series, that of Amy Li in Pearl alongside Rhea Perlman and Malcolm McDowell. She was cast in episodes of both the FOX TV series *The X-Files* (in the episode "Hell Money") and *Hercules: The Legendary Journeys* (in the episode "The March to Freedom"), before landing a role on *Ally McBeal*.

### *Ally McBeal* TV series

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 nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Best Actress in a Comedy Series. In the movie *Payback* (1999), Liu portrayed Pearl, a high-class BDSM prostitute with links to the Chinese mafia.

### *Charlie's Angels* film series

Liu was cast as Alex Munday in the *Charlie's Angels* films, alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz. The first film opened in November 2000 and earned 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 also did well at the box office, earning more than $100 million in the U.S. and a worldwide total of more than $259 million.

### *SNL* appearance

In 2000, she co-hosted *Saturday Night Live* with rapper *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.

### *Cashmere Mafia*

She starred in the *Sex and the City*–inspired TV show, *Cashmere Mafia* on ABC-TV. Liu also made a cameo appearance on the animated FOX-TV 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 16 episode *Goo Goo Gai Pan*).

### Films

In 2002, she played the role of 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. The two, while negotiating terms for her appearance in *Kill Bill* collaborated to co-produce the Hungarian sports documentary *Freedom's Fury*.

### Other guest TV show appearances

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 *Wikipedia:Lucky Number Slevin|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 Chinese woman.

In 2007, Liu appeared in *Code Name: The Cleaner*, *Rise*, a supernatural thriller co-starring Michael Chiklis in which Liu plays an undead reporter (for which she was ranked number 41 on "Top 50 Sexiest Vampires"), 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.

### *Dirty Sexy Money*

In 2007, *Empire* magazine named Liu number 96 of their "100 Sexiest Movie Stars." 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 (Peter Krause). Liu voiced Silvermist in *Disney Fairies* and Viper in *Kung Fu Panda*.

### Stage work and other appearances

In March 2010, Lucy 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. In March 2012, she was cast as Det. Joan Watson for the CBS-TV series *Elementary*. She also has played police officer Jessica Tang on *Southland*, a television show focusing on the lives of police officers and detectives in Los Angeles as a recurring guest actor during the fourth season. She received the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Guest Actress for this role.

In August 2011, Liu became a narrator for the musical group The Bullitts. Liu's double duty as an NYPD consultant on *Elementary* and an LAPD officer on *Southland* won her praise from TV Guide in their "Cheers & Jeers 2012" issue, which cheered her "arresting performances".

## References

1. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Rose, Steve. "Fragments of Lucy Liu", October 5, 2011. Retrieved on July 22, 2012.
3. ↑ Lucy Liu Biography (1968–). Filmreference.com. Retrieved on March 8, 2010.
4. ↑ Lucy Liu- Biography. Yahoo! Movies. Archived from the original on August 7, 2013.
5. ↑ Rajan Zed (January 22, 2010). Hollywood's Lucy Liu to film in India. Scoop World.
6. ↑ Template:Cite magazine
7. ↑ Rose, Tiffany. "Lucy Liu: The Q interview – Features, Films", *The Independent*, June 29, 2003. Retrieved on July 6, 2010.
8. ↑ winie (October 27, 2009). The Asian Faces of Hollywood. MTVAsia.com Blog. Archived from the original on November 17, 2010. Retrieved on July 6, 2010.
9. ↑ "Lucy Liu – an agent of change", *The Independent*, June 27, 2008. Retrieved on March 8, 2010.
10. ↑ Talmadge, Eric. "Liu says 'Kung Fu Panda' is an improve adventure", *The Seattle Times*, July 15, 2008. Retrieved on July 6, 2010.
11. ↑ "Lucy Liu- Biography". Yahoo! Movies.
12. ↑ Josh Cooper (November 17, 2011). Brush with Fame: Lucy Liu. Archived from the original on October 5, 2012. Retrieved on July 23, 2012.
13. ↑ Radish, Christina. "Lucy Liu and Shawn Ashmore Talk about "3 Needles"", MediaBlvd Magazine, December 6, 2006. Retrieved on December 21, 2006.
14. ↑ Estrin, Eric (March 2012). Q+LA Lucy Liu. *Los Angeles Times Magazine*. Archived from the original on December 3, 2013. Retrieved on November 8, 2013.
15. ↑ Ogunnaike, Lola. "The Perks and Pitfalls of a Ruthless-Killer Role; Lucy Liu Boosts the Body Count in New Film", *The New York Times*, October 13, 2003. Retrieved on December 10, 2018.
16. ↑ LeLievre, Roger. "Ann Arbor Comedy Showcase celebrating 25 years of laughs", November 2, 2009. Retrieved on November 29, 2013.
17. ↑  L.A. episode "Co-Respondent", Season 8, Episode 4
18. ↑ "Hungary: New Film Revisits 1956 Water-Polo Showdown". ""Hungary: New Film Revisits 1956 Water-Polo Showdown"", rferl.org, May 5, 2006. Retrieved on May 28, 2020.
19. ↑  "Liu Shocked by Ridiculous Chinese AIDS 'Cures'", ContactMusic.com, November 29, 2006.

## External links

* Lucy Liu article at *Wikipedia*
* Lucy Liu links at FreeOnes
* Lucy Liu at Babepedia
* Lucy Liu profile, Emmys.com; accessed October 20, 2014.
* Lucy Liu profile at Apple iTunes