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Bai Ling Profile |
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Birth Date: October 10, 1970
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Birth Place: Chengdu, China
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Birth Name: Ling Bai
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Height: 5'3"
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Bai Ling Wallpaper |
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Biography |
Bai Ling (meaning "White Spirit") was born in Chengdu,
China, on October 10, 1970, during that country's Cultural
Revolution. Her father was a music teacher, and her mother
was a dancer and stage actress. As a result of their
creative professions, the government cruelly treated Bai
Ling's parents, and so the infant Bai Ling was sent to
Szechwan to be raised by her grandmother.
While Bai Ling sang in her school choir as a child, it
wasn't until she turned 14 and became a "soldier" in the
People's Liberation Army that she took to the stage; she was
put in a performance troupe sent to entertain soldiers in
Tibet for three years. Like her parents before her, Bai Ling
clashed with authority, and she was accused of
insubordination for using tobacco and alcohol. By the end of
her army service, Bai Ling suffered from depression and was
hospitalized.
Her breakdown notwithstanding, Bai Ling had found that she
could express herself through acting. She joined the
Szechwan Theater Company after her recovery, and she soon
caught the eye of a number of progressive and traditional
Chinese directors. She was cast in film roles ranging from a
peasant girl to a pop star, including her most acclaimed
early role in the contemporary Chinese drama Hu guang
(a.k.a. Arc Light) in 1988, where she played a woman
suffering from mental illness. The next year, Bai Ling took
part in the infamous Tiananmen Square protests, which
further alienated her from the Chinese government.
At age 21, Bai Ling came to America as a visiting scholar at
NYU's film school and took classes at the Lee Strasberg
Institute. It was supposed to be a temporary move, but Bai
Ling was eager to learn English so that she could break into
American films, and she was issued a special visa and
allowed to stay in the United States due to her actions at
Tiananmen Square. Making her American film debut, Bai Ling
played a villain in 1994's dark thriller The Crow and, the
following year, she played a Chinese interpreter in Oliver
Stone's biopic Nixon.
Bai Ling's English-language breakthrough came in 1997 when
she played a Chinese lawyer in Red Corner, opposite Richard
Gere. The film was an indictment of the Chinese judicial
system and human rights abuses; although she knew she would
suffer repercussions from her participation, Bai Ling felt
that the evils going on in her country needed to be exposed.
Sure enough, Red Corner was banned in China and North Korea.
Bai Ling's contracts to appear in upcoming Chinese films
were torn up and her passport was revoked. However, the
National Board of Review gave Bai Ling a Breakthrough
Performance award; more importantly, Uncle Sam gave her U.S.
citizenship in 1999.
Once her relocation was made permanent, Bai Ling appeared in
a number of big Hollywood productions. 1999 saw her in Wild
Wild West and Anna and the King (for which she had to cut
her waist-length hair). More recently, she's been seen in
The Beautiful Country (2004), My Baby's Daddy (2004), Spike
Lee's She Hate Me (2004), and Sky Captain and the World of
Tomorrow (2004), starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and
Angelina Jolie.
Bai Ling has a small role as a senator in the highly
anticipated Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith
(2005), and will also appear in Man About Town (2005),
starring Ben Affleck. Bai Ling lives in Marina del Rey,
California, and is dating singer/actor Chris Isaak. |
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Other
Information |
One of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the
World 1998"
Bai Ling served three years in the People Liberation's Army
in China entertaining troops in Tibet. She had a bout of
depression which sent her to a mental hospital. She then
became a Chinese movie star. All of this was occurred before
she was 18.
Had a four line appearance in Star Wars Episode 3.
Unfortunately her appearance (along with a small cameo of
George Lucas' daughter) got cut out (G. Lucas: "It wasn't
like it was a major thing to begin with and I just cut that
whole secondary story out of the movie quite a while ago").
Lives in Marina Del Rey
Name means 'white spirit' in English
Member of jury at the Berlin International Film Festival
(Berlinale) in 2005; for her light dresses that didn't
always cover her essentials all the time, German tabloids
nicknamed her "die Berlinackte" ("the Berlinaked").
Claimed that her role on Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of
the Sith (2005) was cut during editing because of her posing
for the June 2005 issue of US "Playboy" magazine. She was
the first woman from the People's Republic of China on its
cover. George Lucas strongly denied that this was the reason
she was cut.
She took classes at The Lee Strasberg Institute (1991) and
New York University. (1991)
Cut off most of her waist-length hair for her role in Anna
and the King (1999). |
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http://galleryofbeautifulwomen.blogspot.com/2008 /02/bai-ling.html
Enjoy !
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