Actors - Lucy Liu

Home > Listing Index > Actors > Lucy Liu

	Actors - Lucy Liu

Lucy Alexis Liu (born December 2, 1968) is an Emmy Award nominated American actress of Chinese ancestry, best known for starring in the TV series Ally McBeal and the 2000 film Charlie's Angels. Her Chinese name is Liú Yùlíng (劉玉玲).

Early Life

Liu was born in New York City, and was raised with her brother, Alex Ya Liu (Liú Yá Lì), in Queens, New York by Chinese immigrant parents, and attended New York City's famous Stuyvesant High School. She attended New York University for one year, transferred to University of Michigan at Ann Arbor, and graduated with a degree in Asian languages and cultures.

Fame

Liu is widely considered the most prominent Asian-American actress in American media. She had small stints in films and TV roles (for example in X-Files) before landing a break on Ally McBeal. Liu's role on the series was originally not meant to be a regular, but the enthusiastic audience response to the actress' feisty Ling Woo secured Lucy as a prominent cast member.

Shot To Super-Stardom

She became more famous with her turn as Alex in the Charlie's Angels movie, starring alongside more established modern Hollywood icons Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz. The sequel to the film, however, opened to poor reviews and box office receipts. Lucy was also paid sixteen million dollars less for her work in Charlie's Angels than co-star Cameron Diaz.

Liu starred with Antonio Banderas in Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
, a critical and box-office failure that was remarkable only in its casting of a Hispanic actor and Asian American actress in the lead roles. Lucy is perhaps most famous for her role as O-Ren Ishii in director Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill
films. The first installment of the Kill Bill films, Volume 1, exposed Lucy as a more serious and physically adept actress than had been evident from her previous roles. She won an MTV Movie Award, further solidifying her fame with young, hip audiences, for "Best Movie Villain".

Lucy recently appeared on several episodes of "Joey" with Matt LeBlanc, who played her love interest in the Charlie's Angels movies. She also had a small role opposite Keira Knightley in the thriller Domino
. Liu is currently in talks to recreate the Charlie Chan series for modern audiences.

In addition, she was a guest in the popular series "Sex and the City" early 2000's as herself. Quick summary of the episode: Samantha Jones (Kim Cattrall) wanted the new Hermes bag, however, to avoid the "Waiting list" she says "This bag is for Lucy Liu." Lucy Liu receives the bag but Samantha explains "This bag is for me...I did not want to wait in the waiting list." Lucy gets angry and Samantha leaves empty handed.

Personal Life

Although Liu is not married, rumors in the past have linked her with George Clooney. Recently, there was news that she is engaged to a New York playwright, Zach Helm. The engagement has been canceled and she is currently single.

In 2005, Liu was appointed a .

Early in 2006, Liu received an Asian Excellence Award for Visibilty, since she is the most well-known and visible Asian American in the media today.

Cultural references

In 2003, Lucy Liu was referenced in the #1 hit "Hey Ya", in which Andre 3000 of Outkast asks "all Beyonces and Lucy Lius" to "get on the floor" and dance. The song was one of the biggest hits of late 2003/early 2004, and was nominated for a Grammy Award for Record of the Year.

Filmography

Lucky Number Slevin
(2006)
Domino
(2005)
Kill Bill
: Volume 2 (2004)
Kill Bill
: Volume 1 (2003)
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle
(2003)
Chicago (2002)
Cypher (2002)
Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever
(2002)
Futurama (1999) (2001 guest appearance)
Charlie's Angels (2000)
Shanghai Noon
(2000)
Play It to the Bone (1999)
The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999)
Molly (1999)
True Crime
(1999)
Payback (1999)
Love Kills (1998)
Flypaper (1997)
City of Industry (1997)
Gridlock'd
(1997)
Guy (1996)
Jerry Maguire
(1996)
Bang (1995)
Protozoa (1993)

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Lucy Liu ]

This page is based on the copyrighted Wikipedia article Lucy Liu; it is used under the GNU Free Documentation License. You may redistribute it, verbatim or modified, providing that you comply with the terms of the GFDL.