Lucy Liu
Real Name: Lucy Alexis Liu
Date of Birth: December 2, 1968
Place of birth: Jackson Heights Queens, NY
Profession: Actress
Lucy Liu was born to Taiwanese immigrant parents. Her father was a civil engineer and her mom was a biochemist while in Taiwan. Her parents gave up those careers in order to move to the United States.
Liu’s parents insisted that she devote much of her spare time studying. She graduated from New York City’s Stuyvesant High School in 1986, attended the New York University for a year then transferred to the University of Michigan. There she joined the Chi Omega sorority and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Asian Languages and Cultures.
Lucy Liu began acting in 1989 when she auditioned for a role of the University of Michigan’s production of Alice in Wonderland while she was in her senior year. She had a few small roles in television shows such as the X-Files, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys before joining the cast on Ally McBeal.
Liu became better know when she stared as Alex Munday in the Charlie’s Angels film with Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz and the sequel, Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle. In 2003, she played O-Ren Ishii, a major villain in Kill Bill directed by Quentin Tarantino. She garnered an MTV Movie Award for Best Movie Villain for her role. The documentary Freedom’s Fury premiered in April, 2006, which listed Liu as the executive producer. The documentary focused on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution.
December 1, 2006 saw the release of Liu’s film 3 Needles about an HIV-positive Chinese woman. Liu wanted to spread awareness about the way AIDS is treated in China and Thailand and did the film at a lower pay rate.
Liu is producing a version of Charlie Chan, which has been in production for nearly eight years and signed on to star in Beautiful Asian Brides.
In an interview for Jane, Liu may have indicated the possibility that she was bisexual because she was quoted as saying, “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 is going to make a big deal out of it. But if I happen to fall in love with a man, nobody cares.”
Liu is fluent in Chinese, Italian, and Spanish and can speak a little Japanese. She studied Japanese while preparing for her role in Kill Bill. She rock climbs, practices martial arts, skis and plays the accordion.
Liu is also a talented artist in several media and has had three gallery shows, which showcases her collage, paintings and photography. Liu had an art show in September and donated her share of the proceeds to UNICEF. In 2008, she will have another show in Munich and has stated that she will donate her share again to UNICEF.
Liu lives with her brother and sister-in-law in New York.
