Born Lucy Alexis Liu, on Dec 2, 1968, in Queens, New York, USA. Reportedly 5' 3".

She’s cute, she’s funny, she’s well versed in Chinese and martial arts and plays icy dominatrix roles with aplomb — in this era where everything from Charmed to Charlie’s Angels has been ripping off The Matrix and inserting acrobatic, Big Beat-driven kung fu along with simplistic gurrrl-power themes into their scripts, how is it that Lucy Liu isn’t a big star yet?

Certainly it seemed like she was or was about to be back when Fishisms were quoted in abundance throughout the web, when the Biscuit was quirkily adorable, when Calista Flockhart was one of People’s 50 Most Beautiful People list, when the proper place of a “dramedy” at the Emmys mattered. For not only was Ally McBeal a wildly popular show (initially on account of the Dancing Baby hoopla), but Lucy, as the show’s snarling, foul-tempered, bluntly sexual, and scene-stealing Ling, was arguably the most popular character. (Indeed, the character was only meant for one episode, but Lucy’s performance was such that Kelley made her a regular cast member.) Suddenly the unending stream of Ally McBeal articles and interviews weren’t all about Calista Flockhart, and the curious learned of Lucy’s other, offscreen talents: she’s a trained accordion player, rock climber, and is apparently an accomplished multimedia artist, having showed at the Cast Iron Gallery in SoHo and reportedly having ambitions of photographing her nether regions. Not that most people were that curious. But if “Lucy Liu” hadn’t yet become a household word, “Ling” was certainly starting to be.

But not for long. Ally McBeal — that show that seemed to be signaling the official end of Gloria Steinem-style feminism and the search for something more in touch with reality — started running out of gas by the end of its first season, and became completely unwatchable after creator David E. Kelley decided to keep it from competing with The Practice (Kelley’s other attorney-centered show) at the Emmys by turning it into a straight comedy. All the controversy swirling around Ally’s post- or neo-feminist message quickly evaporated as the show fell straight through popular indifference to popular contempt. Suddenly, more people were willing to admit they used to watch Baywatch than would cop to having ever watched Ally McBeal.

Successfully making the leap from a TV show to film is hard enough, and making the leap from a disgraced TV show harder still. (Witness Calista Flockhart’s resume after Ally, which is to date smaller than Elizabeth Berkley’s after Showgirls.) One way to make the transition is to offer audiences in film something they’ve never seen from the actress on TV — in most cases, from Jennifer Love Hewitt to Jeri Ryan, it’s their tits. Unfortunately, this has not been a viable option in Lucy’s case (a critic once summed up Charlie’s Angel’s Barrymore-Diaz-Liu trio as “T, A, and hair”, Liu being the “hair” part of the equation), so instead of starring roles in tight-shirted films that might have increased her star power and salary, she’s had to make do with smaller roles where little attention is paid to her and little opportunity given to pull free from the dead, bulimic hand of Ally still tugging at her ankles. Even in the inexplicably successful Charlie’s Angels, where Lucy is one of the three leads, she’s still the junior Angel, the one making only $4 million to Drew’s $14 million and Cameron’s $20 million.

So is there hope for Lucy in Hollywood that doesn’t involve a trip to the plastic surgeon? Probably. But it’ll take a while, and though it’s unlikely she’ll ever see Barrymore or Diaz money, she’ll at least go on to be a bigger star than she is at present.

And if not, well, perhaps she’ll finally do something with that vaginal photo project she’d been planning.

Also sprach Golem.
(More recent commentary below)

Lucy’s Ars Amandi
June 29, 2003
From Us Weekly: “You have to be a moron in love,” Liu has said. “You give yourself 100 percent to the relationship, and you can’t think straight. Hallmark should make a Valentine’s Day card that says, ‘Thank you for being a moron.’”

Charlie’s Angels DVD
October 23, 2003
I didn't see the film in the theater (and shame on you if you did), but the DVD has an added tidbit to make the movie a wee more worthwhile to some: a moment of brief nudity from all three Angels. Is it worth bothering to rent or buy? Have a look at the caps posted here and decide for yourselves.

Film

• Charlie Chan (2009)
• Kung Fu Panda (2008) .... Master Viper [voice]
• Code Name: The Cleaner (2007) .... Gina
• Rise: Blood Hunter (2007) .... Sadie Blake
• Rocket (2007) .... Anne
• Watching the Detectives (2007) .... Violet
• Lucky Number Slevin (2006) .... Lindsey
• 3 Needles (2005) .... Jin Ping
• Domino (2005) .... Taryn Miles, FBI psychologist
• Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) .... Alex Munday
• Kill Bill (2003) .... O-Ren Ishi (aka “Cottonmouth”)
• Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever (2002) .... Agent Sever
• Chicago (2002) .... Kitty Baxter
• Cypher (2002) .... Rita
• Hotel (2001) .... Kawika
• Charlie's Angels (2000) .... Alex Munday
• Shanghai Noon (2000) .... Princess Pei Pei
• The Mating Habits of the Earthbound Human (1999) .... The Female's Asian Friend (Lydia)
• Molly (1999) .... Brenda
• Payback (1999) .... Pearl
• Play It to the Bone (1999) .... Lia
• True Crime (1999) .... Toy shop girl
• Love Kills (1998) .... Kashi
• City of Industry (1997) .... Cathi Rose
• Flypaper (1997) .... Dot
• Gridlock'd (1997) .... Cee-Cee
• Riot (1997; TV) .... Boomer's girlfriend [segment “Empty”]
• Guy (1996) .... Woman at newsstand
• Jerry Maguire (1996) .... Former girlfriend
• Pearl (1996; TV series) .... Amy Li
• Bang (1995) .... Hooker
• Protozoa (1993) .... Ari
• Ban wo zong heng (1992; aka “Rhythm of Destiny”) .... Donna

• Cashmere Mafia (2007) .... Dylan
• 2003 MTV Movie Awards (2003) .... Herself [“Charlie's Angels” skit]
• ABC World Stunt Awards (2002) .... Herself [uncredited presenter]
• VH1 Big in 2002 Awards (2002) .... Herself
• AFI's 100 Years, 100 Thrills: America's Most Heart-Pounding Movies (2001) .... Herself
• America: A Tribute to Heroes (2001) .... Herself
• 2000 Blockbuster Entertainment Awards (2000) .... Herself
• 2000 MTV Movie Awards (2000) .... Presenter

• Ugly Betty: “Icing on the Cake” (Mar 15, 2007) .... Grace Chin
• Ugly Betty: “Derailed” (Feb 15, 2007) .... Grace Chin
• Game Over (2004) .... Raquel Smashenburn [voice]
• Maya & Miguel (2004) .... Maggie [voice]
• King of the Hill: “Bad Girls, Bad Girls Whatcha Gonna Do” (Nov 17, 2002) .... Tid Pao [voice]
• Futurama: “Love and Rocket” (Feb 10, 2002) .... Herself [voice]
• Sex and the City: “Coulda, Woulda, Shoulda” (Aug 5, 2001) .... Herself
• Futurama: “I Dated a Robot” (May 13, 2001) .... Herself/Lucy Liu Robots [voice]
• Saturday Night Live (Dec 16, 2000) .... Host
• Nulle part ailleurs (Nov 20, 2000) .... Herself
• Ally (1999) .... Ling Woo
• Ally McBeal (1998-2001) .... Ling Woo
• Michael Hayes: “Slaves” (Dec 2, 1997) .... Alice Woo
• NYPD Blue: “A Wrenching Experience” (Apr 15, 1997) .... Amy Chu, babysitter
• The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest: “The Bangalore Falcon” (Feb 14, 1997) .... Melana [voice]
• High Incident: “Follow the Leader” (Aug 15, 1996)
• High Incident: “Father Knows Best” (Apr 15, 1996)
• Nash Bridges: “Genesis” (Mar 29, 1996) .... Joy Powell
• The X Files: “Hell Money” (Mar 29, 1996) .... Kim Hsin
• ER: “And Baby Makes Two” (Oct 19, 1995) .... Mei-Sun Leow
• ER: “What Life?” (Oct 12, 1995) .... Mei-Sun Leow
• ER: “Do One, Teach One, Kill One” (Oct 5, 1995) .... Mei-Sun Leow
• Hercules: The Legendary Journeys: “The March to Freedom” (Mar 6, 1995) .... Oi-Lan
• Home Improvement: “Bachelor of the Year” (Feb 7, 1995) .... Woman #3
• Coach: “Out of Control” (Nov 28, 1994) .... Nicole Wong
• Coach: “It Should Happen to You” (Sep 19, 1994) .... Nicole Wong
• L.A. Law: “Foreign Co-respondent” (Oct 28, 1993) .... Mai Lin
• Beverly Hills, 90210: “Pass, Not Pass” (Aug 15, 1991) .... Courtney, waitress at the Peach Pit

• The Making of ‘Charlie's Angels’ (2000) .... Herself

Cyber Temples

• Lucy Liu Nude Celebrity Movie Reviews
  Mr. Skin
  Bio, filmography, and nude stills and clips from her films

Miscellaneous

• Lucy Liu Filmography
  Internet Movie Database
  Always up-to-date filmography
• Lucy Liu
  Wikipedia
  Lucy Liu in wikireality