A- known to television audiences as Ling Woo, the raging force of governmental incorrectness on League McBeal, Lucy Alexis Liu has managed to cranky over to the big screen in such features as Payback and Give It to the Bone. Born to Chinese parents in Jackson Heights, NY, on December 2, 1968, Liu grew up speaking both English and Mandarin. After graduating from Manhattan's Stuyvesant High Indoctrinate, she earned a estate in Asian languages and cultures from the University of Michi... gan, where she also premeditated acting, hoof it, and voice. Liu's first gifted job was playing a waitress on Beverly Hills 90210, something that led to more substantial ply on various TV shows, including a regular part on the TV series Nonpareil. Liu's biggest breakthrough came in 1998, when she was squint as Ling Woo on Ally McBeal. She had from the start auditioned for the place of Nelle Porter, which ultimately went to Australian actress Portia DeRossi. David E. Kelley, the portray's producer, was so impressed with Liu's audition, still, that he created the role of Ling Woo specifically benefit of her. The character was initially supposed to be included on exclusive a only one episodes but proved so conventional with the show's audience that Liu was made into a regular cast member. Unsurprisingly, the actress' increased exposure led to greater opportunities on the guard and after playing supporting roles in such films as Payback and Molly (both 1999), she moved on to more substantial work in Caper It to the Bone and the Jackie Chan bellicose-arts period comedy Shanghai Midday, which mould her as a princess who has been kidnapped from her emperor father. In 2000, she also was pitch in peradventure her most high-survey function to date, when she was chosen alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz as of the titular crime fighters in Charlie's Angels: The Movie.

With the exclusion of a matter-of-fact role as an prisoner in the Oscar-engaging blear Chicago, 2002 brought little attention for Liu -- Cypher, Ballistic: Ecks vs. Dissever, and Party Monstrosity with former Home Alone inimitable Macaulay Culkin went virtually unseen by the general special-interest group. 2003's Charlie's Angels: Full-bodied Throttle placed Liu tightly back internal the give prominence to, though she was somewhat overshadowed aside the toothy blonde glint that is Cameron Diaz. Luckily for Liu, she was prearranged the chance to glaze noticeably independently when Quentin Tarantino warp her as the harmful O-Ren Ishii, AKA Cottonmouth, in Kill Bill Vol. 1 (2003).