Lucy Liu Biography:

Native New Yorker Lucy Liu shot to celebrity fame in 1998 when she played the lusciously wicked Ling Woo on the hit comedy "Ally McBeal" next to sweet girl Calista Flockhart (Fox, 1997-2002). Immediately following her television triumph, Liu went on to create a big screen movie personality as the tiny, ass kicking hero of chic action movies like the “Charlie’s Angels” franchise and “Kill Bill, Vol. 1” (2003). In 2007, she returned to a regular television role with the Darren Star drama “Cashmere Mafia” (ABC, 2007), playing one of close group of independent professional women supporting each other through the tribulations of career, love and romance. 

For Liu, the change was comfortable, in that with the new television work, she would portray a real person with everyday troubles, instead of some secret agent or action hero fighter which she had made a career playing convincingly on the movie screens around the country.

Lucy Liu was born on Dec. 2, 1968 and raised in the Jackson Heights district of Queens, New York. Her parents are Taiwanese immigrants who left behind careers in biochemistry and civil engineering to start a fresh life in the United States - both encouraging their children to receive a full University education and take up professional careers of their own. Hesitant to make waves in her go-getting family, the theater and arts oriented Liu kept her dreams of a becoming an actress private, studying her favorite Charlie Chan films for encouragement. In 1986, she graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City and then attended New York University, but after only two years, transferred to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. While Liu worked on finishing a Bachelor of Science degree in Asian Languages and Culture, it was becoming harder to overlook her lifelong aspirations of acting. 

During her senior year she auditioned for a supporting role in a college production of “Alice in Wonderland” and was amazed to be given the lead, mainly because the part classically called for blonde haired white female. In 1990, Liu broke the bad news to her parents, regardless of her freshly earned University degree, she was relocating to Los Angeles to work on becoming an actress. “I just knew it was the only thing I felt strongly about,” she recalled in an interview years later.

In less than two years, Liu got her first professional acting job with a role as a Peach Pit waitress on "Beverly Hills, 90210" (Fox, 1990-2000). Not long after that she was appearing in several guest spots on both dramas and comedies, ranging from “The X-Files” with David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson (Fox, 1993-2002) to “Coach” (ABC, 1989-1997). One of her more impressive roles was a recurring character playing a woman whose young teenage son was suffering from complications of AIDS on NBC's medical television drama, "ER" giving her the opportunity to work alongside heavy Hollywood super talent like Noah Wyle and George Clooney (NBC, 1994— ).

In 1996, Liu's budding film career began with a small part as an ex-girlfriend in the 1996 hit "Jerry Maguire", again working with super star power like Tom Cruise and Renee Zellweger. The following year, probably much to the dismay of her strict parents, she played an exotic dancer in the Harvey Keitel action film "City of Industry," but Lucy Liu was about to get her big breakthrough with a role her parents would be proud of - lawyer. In 1998, Liu auditioned for the role of Nelle Porter on hit television comedy drama series, “Ally McBeal.” The role was given to Portia de Rossi, but David E. Kelley was so impressed with Liu’s talent and skill, he promised to write a guest cameo part for her in the series. 

The sporadic appearances of Liu as Ling Woo, a hysterically bitchy, un-political correct attorney, were such an audience draw that Woo was added as an ensemble cast staple in the show’s third season. During her work on the television series, Liu’s hilarious comic talents gained her many fans, as well as an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress.

Had Liu not previously been thrown into the public's attention on "Ally McBeal," the 1999 Mel Gibson movie "Payback" with mega sexy celebrity Mel Gibson may have proven to be her breakthrough role. She starred as Pearl, a leather dressed sexy dominatrix who became so likable, that the first script was reworked to give her more screen time. The smash hit movie led to a job with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in the Wild West comedy adventure "Shanghai Noon" (2000), before Liu was cast for her first and most famous leading screen role alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz as one of "Charlie's Angels" (2000). The girl hero movie was a smash hit - a fresh new variation on the television action comedy lead by female heroes and a reverent acknowledgment to the classic 1970's “jiggling boobs” series that were popular. Even more energizing was the addition of Asian American Lucy Liu as spokesperson for a new age of big movie screen female opportunities.

Following the exceptional success of "Charlie's Angels," however, Liu’s film career had its share of not so good projects. She played opposite Antonio Banderas in the almost worthless science fiction thriller "Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever" in 2002. She grabbed a role in the Oscar  winning film variation of the Broadway hit "Chicago" with sexy Renee Zellweger in 2002, giving a luscious performance as killer Kitty Baxter. In 2003, Liu again joined with Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore for the action adventure and fast paced sequel "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle", a film which was more ridiculous than anything else and all but put and end to the "Angels" franchise.

Not missing a beat, Liu joined Quentin Tarantino's anticipated fourth feature, "Kill Bill, Vol. 1" (2003), giving a magnificent performance as Japanese Chinese American O-Ren Ishii, Queen of the Tokyo underworld and leader of the crazy 88 Fighters. Liu also brought sizzle to the 2004-05 first season of the ill-fated "Friends" spin off situation comedy "Joey" by playing the instinctively clean television producer Lauren Beck on several episodes.

Making a change, Lucy Liu started to concentrate more on dramas, playing a role as an FBI psychologist in the feature film story “Domino” starring Keira Knightley (2005) and as a Mandarin black market blood dealer in “3 Needles,” which was not seen by many, but awed the film festival crowd with its riveting profiles of the international AIDS crisis. Liu made her first attempt into producing and directing with the inspired documentary “Freedom’s Fury” (2006), which focused on a 1956 Olympic water polo tournament between Russia and Hungary that paralleled the countries struggle over power. Liu came back to the big screen as a polished coroner trying to help Josh Hartnett survive a case of mistaken identity in the action thriller “Lucky Number Slevin” working with the talented Bruce Willis and Morgan Freeman in 2006, before taking an executive producer credit and a supporting role on the unfortunate Cedric the Entertainer flop, “Code Name: The Cleaner” (2007).

Liu's next project went straight to video with the thriller “Rise: Blood Hunter” (2007) - and found zombie columnist Liu on a search for retribution against the vampires that took her life, until a declining film profile was stopped short with a return to series television on “The Cashmere Mafia” (ABC, 2007). Created and developed by the executive producer of “Sex and The City” (HBO, 1998-2004), the greatly anticipated sixty minute, multi camera drama promised to make the most of Liu’s personality as a tough, self-reliant woman and a loyal friend with great taste in clothes.

• Also Credited As:
  Lucy Alexis Liu
• Born:
  on 12/02/1967 in New York, New York
• Job Titles:
  Actor, Artist, Aerobics instructor, Caterer

Family

• Brother: John Liu. born 1965
• Father: Tom Liu. immigrated to United States from China
• Mother: Cecilia Liu. immigrated to USA from China
• Sister: Jenny Liu. born 1966

Significant Others

• Companion: Will McCormack. brother of actress Mary McCormack; began dating in 2005
• Companion: Zach Helm. began dating July 2003; announced engagement April 2004; called off engagement at the end of 2004
• Companion: Nicholas Lea. dated in 1997-98

Education

• New York University, New York, New York

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