Bai Ling Biography:

Bai Ling means "white spirit" in the Chinese language, and the actress has become an increasing talent around the world. The frail, flamboyant actress first gained attention as Myca, the drug addicted human flesh eater with a rase for eyeballs, in Alex Proyas' thriller "The Crow" opposite Brandon Lee in 1994, and as the President's Chinese interpreter in Oliver Stone's "Nixon" (1995) with the powerful Anthony Hopkins playing President Nixon. The part was ironic as she had arrived in the United States just six years earlier without knowing a word of English.

Raised in an average Chinese family, one tolerant of the social and political upheaval, she was a musical performer by age fourteen, enlisted into the army and sent to Tibet to entertain the troops. In 1987, she made her film introduction in "Haitan" and then appeared in various movies developed and produced in China. 

She was issued a special visa and allowed to stay in the United States after being expelled from China due to her actions at Tiananmem Square.

International viewers got a brief quick look of her in Bernardo Bertolucci's "Little Buddha" starring Keanu Reeves (1993), but it was her next project in "Dead Funny" (1995) and her charming role as an American immigrant in "Somewhere in the City" (1996) that brought her media and tabloid attention. She then made headlines when she was cast in the leading role opposite Richard Gere in the political thriller "Red Corner" (1997).

Her television work has included "Nobody's Girls" (1994) a documentary with re-enactments in which the actress portrayed Mary Bong, a 14-year old Chinese girl who became legendary as a midwife after she moved to Alaska. She made her American television film debut in "Dead Weekend" in 1995.

In 1999 she appeared in "Wild Wild West" working with Will Smith and Salma Hayek and "Anna and the King" alongside leading lady Jodie Foster. She's also appeared in "The Beautiful Country" (2004), "My Baby's Daddy" (2004), and "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" (2004), starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie.

She then took a small role as a galactic senator in "Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" with power-house stars including Natalie Portman, Hayden Christensen and Samuel L. Jackson (2005), but her scenes were cut during the final editing. She claimed it was because of her nude pictures released in the June 2005 issue of Playboy Magazine, where there was quite a spread of naked photos, but director George Lucas denied it. 

She also appeared in "Man About Town" (2006), starring Ben Affleck. In the film, a top Hollywood talent agent finds his comfortable life threatened when he discovers that his wife is cheating on him, and that his personal journal has been stolen by a news reporter out to bring him down.

In February 2008, her profile was plastered on every tabloid front page. The Chinese born actress was arrested for shoplifting at Los Angeles International Airport after a gift shop employee accused her of stealing two magazines and a pack of batteries. Los Angeles Airport Police booked her on suspicion of shoplifting $16 worth of merchandise, a misdemeanor, and ordered her to appear in court. 

Next for the actress was the dramatic thriller "Toxic" (2007) and the crime drama "Living & Dying" (2007) with Edward Furlong, about two killers who turn the tables on three robbers when they find themselves in a hostage situation. Then she was cast in the lead role in "Shanghai Baby" (2007) where in rain-soaked Berlin Germany, the passionate, life-loving young writer Coco seeks the closing chapter of her book. The actress finished up the year in the sci-fi flick "The Gene Generation" (2007), with Faye Dunaway, about Michelle, an assassin to a new breed of killers called DNA Hackers, who finds she has even bigger problems in her life.

She started out 2008 with the comedy "The Hustle" (2008) about a disenchanted pest control sprayer and single dad Freddie Manning who is always trying to hustle just a little more out of everything, and then was cast in "Chain Letter", a horror thriller about how a mad man murders young teens when they refuse to forward chain mail. She then changed gears again in "A Beautiful Life" (2008) and "The Gauntlet" (2008), set in a sunken castle underneath the earth, where six strangers wakeup to find they have no food, no memory, and no water. She then took a role in the independent film "Razor" (2008) about an old man, nicknamed Razor, who has just returned to the South Bronx after spending fifty years in prison. 

The next year was a busy year for the celebrity with "Dim Sum Funeral" (2009) a story about a group of separated Chinese-American siblings who reunite after the death of their mother. Then "Love Ranch" (2009) starring Joe Pesci, a drama centered around a married couple who opened the first legal brothel in Nevada. Based on real events. 

Then it was back to the action films with "Crank 2: High Voltage" (2009) about a Chinese mobster who has stolen his nearly indestructible heart and replaced it with a battery-powered ticker that requires regular jolts of electricity to keep working. 

And wrapping up the year is the fantasy film "Shifter" (2009) with Rachel Miner, which is a brand new take on the werewolf mythos, following the brutal life of a mob hitman who is much more than human.