Lucy Liu

**Lucy Liu** is an American actress, voice actress, director and artist. She portrays Simone Grove in the first season of CBS All Access's Why Women Kill.

## Biography

### Early Life

Liu was born in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York City, 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.

She grew up in a diverse neighborhood, and 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.

### Career

At 19, Liu was discovered by an agent while traveling on the subway, and did one commercial. As a member of the Basement Arts student-run theater group, she auditioned in 1989 for the University of Michigan's production of Alice in Wonderland during her senior year of college. Although she had originally tried out for only a supporting part, Liu was cast in the lead role.

Liu first appeared on television in 1991 in a guest role in *Beverly Hills, 90210* . In 1993, she appeared in a guest role *L.A. Law*. She continued to star in guest roles on television until 1996 when she was cast in her first main role in CBS’s short-lived sitcom *Pearl*. Shortly after *Pearl*’s run in 1997, Liu was cast in a main role on *Ally McBeal* from 1998 to 2002. From 2004, Liu appeared in many television shows, including *Ugly Betty*, *Dirty Sexy Money*, *Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness*, *Southland* and *Elementary* from 2012 to 2019.

Liu has also appeared in movies, including her movie debut *Rhythm of Destiny'’, ’'Jerry Maguire*, *Charlie’s Angels*, *Chicago*, *Kill Bill: Volume 1*, *Domino*, the *Kung Fu Panda* movies, and *Sherlock Gnomes*.

### Personal Life

In 2001, Liu was the spokeswoman for the Lee National Denim Day fundraiser in 2001, which raises money for breast cancer research and education. She was appointed an ambassador for U.S. Fund for UNICEF in 2004.

Liu has studied various religions, such as Buddhism, Taoism and Jewish mysticism. She has been a member of the Chinese-American organization Committee of 100 since 2004.

Liu is a single parent by choice. She has a biological son, Rockwell, who was born in 2015 via gestational surrogate. One major campaign she was involved in was Tylenol's #HowWeFamily Mother's Day Campaign.

## Trivia

* The second Asian American Woman to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the first being Anna May Wong in 1960. Their stars are adjacent to each other.

## External Links

* Lucy Liu at the Internet Movie Database

* Follow Lucy Liu (@LucyLiu) on Twitter

* Follow Lucy Liu (@lucyliu) on Instagram