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Lucy Liu Profile |
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Birth Date: December 2, 1968
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Birth Place: Queens, New York, USA
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Birth Name: Lucy Alexis Liu
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Height: 5'3"
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Lucy Liu
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Biography |
It's in the Italian neighborhood of Queens, New York that
Lucy Alexis Liu was born on December 2, 1968. Her childhood
in Jackson Heights with her brother and sister resembled
that of many immigrant families. Even though it was
difficult, her Chinese parents, a biochemist and a civil
engineer, raised their children the American way.
They also taught their children to speak both English and
Mandarin, which caused Lucy to have an identity crisis
during her days at Manhattan's Stuyvesant High School.
Still, she learned to accept herself and graduated in 1986.
After the summer, she enrolled in New York University. In
spite of the school being a very distinguished establishment
of higher learning, she found the place to be gloomy and
cynical. As a result, she only stayed for a year.
For her sophomore year, Lucy went to Ann Arbor and joined
the University of Michigan, where she studied singing,
acting and dancing. She ultimately graduated with a degree
in Asian languages and cultures.
Lucy always knew she was artistic and, during her senior
year of high school, she tried her hand at theater in Andre
Gregory's adaptation of Alice in Wonderland. This gave her a
taste of what it's like to be a professional actress and she
quickly wanted more.
She moved to Los Angeles, where she supported herself by
being a waitress. Before long, she landed a guest-starring
part on Beverly Hills, 90210. Over the years, she made other
guest appearances in shows such as L.A. Law, Coach, Home
Improvement, ER, The X Files, High Incident, and NYPD Blue.
In 1993, Lucy's collection of multimedia art pieces was
showcased at the Cast Iron Gallery in SoHo. Because of that,
she was awarded a grant to study art in China. Upon her
return, the chronicles of her journey (photography, paints,
ceramics, collages) were exhibited in a gallery in Venice,
California.
Along with her early TV career, Liu landed roles in small
movies. She was in the Hong Kong feature Rhythm of Destiny
(1992), the early Darren Aronofsky film Protozoa (1993),
Bang (1995), and she had a small role in Jerry Maguire
(1996) as one of Jerry's former girlfriends.
In 1996, Liu was also cast as a regular in the short-lived
CBS sitcom Pearl, with Rhea Perlman and Malcolm McDowell.
This secured her position in Hollywood and, in 1997, she was
in five movies: Gridlock'd, City of Industry, Guy, Flypaper,
and television's Riot. After a small role in Mario Van
Peebles' Love Kills (1998), Lucy was introduced to
mainstream America. She auditioned for the role of Nelle
Porter on Ally McBeal, but Portia de Rossi got it instead.
Nevertheless, writer-producer David E. Kelley noticed Lucy's
spunk and promised to write a character especially for her.
The character was Ling Woo, a fiery lawyer who never took no
for an answer, and she was introduced in a September 1998
episode of Ally McBeal. Lucy was so riveting that she was
invited to join the regular cast. She was nominated for an
Emmy (as Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series)
in 1999 and stayed on until the show's demise in 2002.
With her stock rising, Lucy was in demand and made several
motion pictures. In 1999, she played a dominatrix in Payback
with Mel Gibson, and appeared in Clint Eastwood's True
Crime, Molly, The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human
(with Carmen Electra), and the sports comedy Play It to the
Bone, starring Antonio Banderas and Woody Harrelson.
Lucy's next project was the action comedy Shanghai Noon
(2000) with Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. Shortly thereafter,
she appeared in another blockbuster, the star-studded
Charlie's Angels (2000), in which she played one of the
female leads alongside Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore.
Following the independent Mike Figgis film Hotel (2001), Liu
teamed up with Antonio Banderas once more and starred as a
government agent in Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002). After
Cypher (2002) and a brief appearance in the Oscar-winning
Chicago (2002), she joined the "Angels" again for Charlie's
Angels: Full Throttle (2003).
After that, she decided to slow down because her schedule
was too hectic. Consequently, Lucy kept busy with only one
movie -- although it's since been partitioned in two --
Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) and Kill Bill:
Vol. 2 (2004, in archived footage).
In 2005, she can add Domino, 3 Needles and Lucky Number
Slevin to her resume. |
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Other
Information |
Fluent in Mandarin Chinese.
Graduated from the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor with
a degree in Asian languages and cultures.
Graduated from Stuyvesant high school in 1986.
Attended New York University for a year.
Mother is a biochemist, father is a civil engineer and she
has a brother and a sister.
Grew up in the Jackson Heights section of Queens County, New
York.
Was the first Asian-American female to host "Saturday Night
Live" (1975).
She once worked as an aerobics instructor.
She plays the accordion.
She practices rock climbing, skiing, & horseback riding.
Auditioned for a role in Shanghai Knights (2003), but lost
out to Fann Wong.
Is an initiated sister of Chi Omega Fraternity
Announced that she plans on marrying Zach Helm, her
boyfriend of one year. [April 2004]
Shares a birthday with Britney Spears
Mentioned in Outkast's hit "Hey Ya".
Good friends with Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore since
Charlie's Angels (2000)
One of the guests at Ashton Kutcher's and Demi Moore's
wedding in 2005.
Graduated Stuyvesant High School the same year as Yelba
Osorio and Zorikh Lequidre.
Fluent in Italian.
Is close friends with her "Pearl" (1996) co-star Rhea
Perlman and her husband Danny DeVito |
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