Photo by Derek Steele/BuzzFoto.com
By Jules
While we know Lucy from such movies as Charlie’s Angels, Kill Bill and Kung Fu Panda, this New York born actress has many other fascinating facets. Born to Taiwanese immigrants, Lucy exclusively spoke Mandarin Chinese at home, until she learned English at the age of five. After high school she attended New York University for a year, before transferring to the University of Michigan, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Asian languages and cultures. In her senior year at college, she auditioned for a small part in the University’s production of “Alice in Wonderland”, and instead was cast in the lead role.
Since then she’s had small parts in TV shows and films, until landing a permanent role on the TV show Ally McBeal, where she played feisty Ling Woo, which earned her an Emmy nomination as well as a Screen Actor’s Guild award nomination. She starred in the box office hits Charlie’s Angels and its sequel Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and received an MTV award for “Best movie villain” in Tarantino’s “Kill Bill”. She made guest appearances on Ugly Betty and Sex and the City, and gave her Broadway debut in 2010, playing Annette in the Tony award winning “God of Carnage”.
Liu speaks in support of marriage equality for gays and lesbians, and has stated in an interview: “Everybody wants to label people. Sometimes you just fall in love with somebody, and you’re really not thinking about what gender or whatever they happen to be. I think that if I happen to fall in love with a woman, everyone’s going to make a big deal out of it. But if I happen to fall in love with a man, nobody cares.” Besides that she’s also been a spokesperson for the “Lee National Denim Day” raising money for breast cancer awareness and research, has been appointed as a UNICEF ambassador, and has hosted an MTV documentary for the channel’s “MTV Exit” campaign raising awareness of human trafficking in Asia.
She’s the first ever Asian American to host an episode of SNL, and has received the “Asian Excellence Award” in 2006. Aside from her acting and charity work, Lucy is also an accomplished artist, working with mixed media collages, photography and painting. A part of the profits of her gallery shows in the States and other countries such as Germany have been donated to support UNICEF. And if after all that, she has a little bit of free time left, she spends it rock climbing, practicing martial arts, skiing, and playing the accordion.
While we know Lucy from such movies as Charlie’s Angels, Kill Bill and Kung Fu Panda, this New York born actress has many other fascinating facets. Born to Taiwanese immigrants, Lucy exclusively spoke Mandarin Chinese at home, until she learned English at the age of five. After high school she attended New York University for a year, before transferring to the University of Michigan, where she graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Asian languages and cultures. In her senior year at college, she auditioned for a small part in the University’s production of “Alice in Wonderland”, and instead was cast in the lead role.
Since then she’s had small parts in TV shows and films, until landing a permanent role on the TV show Ally McBeal, where she played feisty Ling Woo, which earned her an Emmy nomination as well as a Screen Actor’s Guild award nomination. She starred in the box office hits Charlie’s Angels and its sequel Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle, and received an MTV award for “Best movie villain” in Tarantino’s “Kill Bill”. She made guest appearances on Ugly Betty and Sex and the City, and gave her Broadway debut in 2010, playing Annette in the Tony award winning “God of Carnage”.
Liu speaks in support of marriage equality for gays and lesbians, and has stated in an interview: “Everybody wants to label people. Sometimes you just fall in love with somebody, and you’re really not thinking about what gender or whatever they happen to be. I think that if I happen to fall in love with a woman, everyone’s going to make a big deal out of it. But if I happen to fall in love with a man, nobody cares.” Besides that she’s also been a spokesperson for the “Lee National Denim Day” raising money for breast cancer awareness and research, has been appointed as a UNICEF ambassador, and has hosted an MTV documentary for the channel’s “MTV Exit” campaign raising awareness of human trafficking in Asia.
She’s the first ever Asian American to host an episode of SNL, and has received the “Asian Excellence Award” in 2006. Aside from her acting and charity work, Lucy is also an accomplished artist, working with mixed media collages, photography and painting. A part of the profits of her gallery shows in the States and other countries such as Germany have been donated to support UNICEF. And if after all that, she has a little bit of free time left, she spends it rock climbing, practicing martial arts, skiing, and playing the accordion.