Native New Yorker Lucy Liu skyrocketed to popularity in 1998 when she played the deliciously malicious Ling Woo on the hit comedy "Ally McBeal" (Fox, 1997-2002). Fresh off of her television success, she went on to establish a big screen persona as the petit, butt-kicking heroine of stylish action outings like the “Charlie’s Angels” franchise and “Kill Bill, Vol. 1” (2003). In 2007, she returned to a regular TV role with the Darren Star drama “Cashmere Mafia” (ABC, 2007), playing one a tightly-knit group of independent professional women supporting each other through the ups and downs of career and romance. For Liu, the change was welcome, in that with the new TV role, she would essay a real person with everyday problems, versus some secret agent or badass fighter which she had long made a career playing believably on the big screen.
Lucy Liu was born on Dec. 2, 1968 and raised in the Jackson Heights neighborhood of Queens, NY. Her parents were Taiwanese immigrants who left behind careers in biochemistry and civil engineering to start a new life in the State; with both encouraging their children to receive a full education and pursue professional careers of their own. Reluctant to make waves in her ambitious family, the arts-oriented Liu kept her dreams of a becoming an actress to herself, studying her favorite Charlie Chan films for inspiration. In 1986, she graduated from Stuyvesant High School in New York City and went on to New York University, but after one year, transferred to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI. While Liu closed in on a Bachelor of Science degree in Asian Languages and Culture, it was becoming harder to ignore her lifelong aspirations of acting. Her senior year she auditioned for a supporting role in a college production of “Alice in Wonderland” and was astonished to be offered the lead – particularly because the part typically called for blonde-haired Caucasian. In 1990, Liu broke the bad news to her parents — despite her freshly inked college degree, she was moving to Los Angeles to become an actress. “I just knew it was the only thing I felt strongly about,” she recalled in an interview years later.
In less than a year, Liu landed her first professional acting job with a stint as a Peach Pit waitress on "Beverly Hills, 90210" (Fox, 1990-2000). Soon, she was enjoying several guest spots a year on both dramas and comedies – ranging from “The X-Files” (Fox, 1993-2002) to “Coach” (ABC, 1989-1997). One of her more memorable turns was a recurring part playing a woman whose young son was suffering from complications of AIDS on NBC's medical drama, "ER" (NBC, 1994— ).
In 1996, Liu's up and coming film career began with a bit part as an ex-girlfriend in the 1996 hit "Jerry Maguire." The following year – probably much to the horror of her parents – she played an exotic dancer in the Harvey Keitel actioner "City of Industry," but she was about to make her big break with a role her parents would be proud of: lawyer. In 1998, Liu auditioned for the role of Nelle Porter on hit TV dramedy series, “Ally McBeal.” The role was given to Portia de Rossi, but David E. Kelley was wowed by Liu’s talent and promised to write a guest part for her in the show. The occasional appearances of Liu as Ling Woo — a hilariously bitchy, un-PC attorney — were such a winner with audiences, that Woo was added as cast regular in the show’s third season. During her run on the series, Liu’s scene-stealing comic relief earned her many fans, as well as an Emmy nomination for Best Supporting Actress.
Had Liu not already come to the public's attention on "Ally McBeal," the 1999 Mel Gibson flick "Payback" may have proven to be her breakthrough role. She starred as Pearl, a leather-clad dominatrix who proved so likable, that the initial script was rewritten to afford her more screen time. The popular movie led to a pairing with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson in the Wild West comedy "Shanghai Noon" (2000), before Liu snagged her first and most famous leading screen role alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz as one of "Charlie's Angels" (2000). The girl-powered romp was a blockbuster; a refreshing new take on the action comedy helmed by female heroes and a respectful tribute to the iconic 1970s “jiggle” series. Even more refreshing was the inclusion of Asian-American Liu as representative of a new era of big screen female protagonists.
Following the phenomenal success of "Charlie's Angels," however, Liu’s film career weathered its share of ups and downs. She starred opposite Antonio Banderas in the little-seen sci-fi thriller "Ecks vs. Sever" in 2002. She nabbed a part in the Oscar-winning film adaptation of the Broadway hit "Chicago" (2002), turning in a juicy if all-too-brief performance as murderess Kitty Baxter. In 2003, Liu reunited with Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore for the action-packed sequel "Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle" – a film which was more laughable than anything else and all but killed the franchise off.
Undeterred, Liu got on board Quentin Tarantino's long-awaited fourth feature, "Kill Bill, Vol. 1" (2003), giving a bravura performance as Japanese-Chinese-American O-Ren Ishii, Queen of the Tokyo Underworld and leader of the Crazy 88 Fighters. Liu also enlivened the 2004-05 first season of the doomed "Friends" spin-off sitcom, "Joey" by playing the compulsively clean TV producer Lauren Beck on several episodes.
Making a shift, Liu began to focus more on dramas, playing a role as an FBI psychologist in the feature film bounty hunter chronicle “Domino” (2005) and as a Mandarin black market blood dealer in “3 Needles,” which was not widely released but impressed the festival circuit with its gripping profiles of the international AIDS epidemic. Liu made her first foray into producing with the well-received documentary “Freedom’s Fury” (2006), which centered on a 1956 Olympic water polo tournament between Russia and Hungary that paralleled the nations’ struggle over power. Liu returned to the screen as a fast-talking coroner trying to help Josh Hartnett survive a case of mistaken identity in the thriller “Lucky Number Slevin” (2006) before taking an executive producer credit (and a supporting role) on the unfortunate Cedric the Entertainer flop, “Code Name: The Cleaner” (2007).
A straight-to-video thriller “Rise: Blood Hunter” (2007) found undead journalist Liu on a quest for revenge against the vampires that took her life, until a waning film profile was interrupted with a return to series television on “The Cashmere Mafia” (ABC, 2007). From the executive producer of “Sex and The City” (HBO, 1998-2004), the highly anticipated hour-long drama promised to make the most of Liu’s persona as a strong, independent woman and a loyal friend – albeit, with a great wardrobe.