1 | [[quoteright:295:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lucyliu_324.jpg]] |
2 | ->''"You respect all of these people that you know in the business as actors. And they sort of turn around and say, we really like your work. It's a nice acknowledgment."'' |
3 | |
4 | Lucy Alexis Liu (劉玉玲 Liú Yùlíng; born December 2, 1968) is an American actress of Chinese-Taiwanese descent. |
5 | |
6 | She was born in Queens, UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity, to Chinese-born Taiwanese immigrant parents. Although she did well in her studies, she started acting when she auditioned for a minor role in a college production of ''Literature/AliceInWonderland'', and instead won the lead. After some small roles in films and television, her breakthrough came when she got a part in ''Series/AllyMcBeal'', playing the foul-mouthed Ling Woo, a new character specifically written for her. Her tough attitude made her a sex symbol for a lot of viewers, and her performance earned her Emmy and Screen Actors Guild award nominations. |
7 | |
8 | Since then, she has appeared in a variety of film and television roles, often playing an ActionGirl or DarkActionGirl, as well as doing voice-acting in animation (cf. her appearance on the ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' episode where Fry downloads Lucy Liu's likeness into a robot and uses it as his girlfriend and her role on the ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' episode "Bad Girls, Bad Girls, Whatcha Gonna Do?" as Connie's delinquent cousin Tid Pao who tricks Bobby into making a meth lab for her). Liu also holds the honor of being the first Asian-American woman to host ''Series/SaturdayNightLive'' (her episode was a season 26 Christmas episode with Music/JayZ as a musical guest). In the 2010s, she completely changed her image and finally broke away from DragonLady and MsFanservice typecasting by playing [[GenderFlip Dr. Joan Watson]] opposite Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes in ''Series/{{Elementary}}''. |
9 | |
10 | Her conventional acting career may sometimes overshadow her roles as an action star, but Liu is a lifelong practitioner of the martial art of UsefulNotes/{{Eskrima}} and has showed it in plenty. |
11 | |
12 | Liu is bilingual in English and [[UsefulNotes/ChineseLanguage Mandarin]], and holds a Bachelor's degree in Asian Languages and Cultures from the University of Michigan. |
13 | |
14 | As of 2023, Liu has branched out into directing, helming an episode of the television series ''Series/AmericanBornChinese2023''. |
15 | ---- |
16 | !!Her filmography includes: |
17 | * ''Series/BeverlyHills90210'' (1991) as Courtney |
18 | * ''Series/LALaw'' (1993) as Mei Lin |
19 | * ''Series/{{Coach}}'' (1994) as Nicole Wong |
20 | * ''Series/HomeImprovement'' (1995) as Woman #3 |
21 | * ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' (1995) as Oi-Lan |
22 | * ''Series/{{ER}}'' (1995) as Mei-Sun Leow |
23 | * ''Series/TheXFiles'' (1996) as Kim Hsin |
24 | * ''Series/NashBridges'' (1996) as Joy Powell |
25 | * ''Film/JerryMaguire'' (1996) as Former Girlfriend |
26 | * ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'' (1997) as Melana (voice) |
27 | * ''Film/CityOfIndustry'' (1997) as Cathi Rose |
28 | * ''Series/NYPDBlue'' (1997) as Amy Chu |
29 | * ''Series/AllyMcBeal'' (1998-2002) as Ling Woo |
30 | * ''Film/{{Payback}}'' (1999) as Pearl |
31 | * ''Film/TrueCrime'' (1999) as Toy Shop Girl |
32 | * ''Film/Molly1999'' as Brenda |
33 | * ''Film/TheMatingHabitsOfTheEarthboundHuman'' (1999) as The Female's Friend (Lydia) |
34 | * ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'' (2000) as Princess Pei-Pei |
35 | * ''[[Film/CharliesAngels2000 Charlie's Angels]]'' (2000) as Alex Munday |
36 | ** ''Film/CharliesAngelsFullThrottle'' (2003) |
37 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'' (2001-02) as herself (voice) |
38 | * ''Series/SexAndTheCity'' (2001) as herself |
39 | * ''Film/{{Hotel}}'' (2001) as Kawika |
40 | * ''[[VideoGame/{{SSX}} SSX Tricky]]'' (2001) as Elise Riggs (voice) |
41 | * ''Film/BallisticEcksVsSever'' (2002) as Sever |
42 | * ''Film/{{Cypher}}'' (2002) as Rita Foster |
43 | * ''WesternAnimation/KingOfTheHill'' (2002) as Tid Pao (voice) |
44 | * ''Film/{{Chicago}}'' (2002) as Kitty Baxter |
45 | * ''Film/KillBill'' (2003-04) as O-Ren Ishii |
46 | * ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'' (2004) as Future Jade Chan (voice) |
47 | * ''WesternAnimation/MayaAndMiguel'' (2004-06) as Maggie Lee (voice) |
48 | * ''Series/{{Joey}}'' (2004-05) as Lauren Beck |
49 | * ''WesternAnimation/MulanII'' (2004) as Mei (voice) |
50 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' (2005) as Madam Wu (voice) |
51 | * ''Film/{{Domino|2005}}'' (2005) as Taryn Mills |
52 | * ''Film/LuckyNumberSlevin'' (2006) as Lindsey |
53 | * ''Series/UglyBetty'' (2007) as Grace Chin |
54 | * ''Film/RiseBloodHunter'' (2007) as Sadie Blake |
55 | * ''Film/WatchingTheDetectives'' (2007) as Violet |
56 | * ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda1'' (2008) as Master Viper (voice) |
57 | ** ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'' (2011) |
58 | ** ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPandaLegendsOfAwesomeness'' (2011-14, 2016) |
59 | ** ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda3'' (2016) |
60 | * ''Series/DirtySexyMoney'' (2008-09) as Nola Lyons |
61 | * ''WesternAnimation/DisneyFairies'' (2008-14) as Silvermist (voice) |
62 | * ''Anime/AfroSamurai: Resurrection'' (2009) as Sio (voice) |
63 | * ''Film/MarryMe2010'' (2010) as Rae Ann Carter |
64 | * ''Series/{{Southland}}'' (2012) as Officer Jessica Tang |
65 | * ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs2012'' (2012) as Vivienne (voice) |
66 | * ''Series/{{Elementary}}'' (2012-19) as Dr. Joan Watson |
67 | * ''Film/TheManWithTheIronFists'' (2012) as Madam Blossom |
68 | * ''Anime/TheTaleOfThePrincessKaguya'' (2013) as Lady Sagami (voice) |
69 | * ''Series/{{Girls}}'' (2016) as Detective Mosedale |
70 | * ''WesternAnimation/MichaelJacksonsHalloween'' (2017) as Conformity (voice) |
71 | * ''Series/SesameStreet'' (2017) as Cinderella |
72 | * ''Film/SetItUp'' (2018) Kirsten Stevens |
73 | * ''WesternAnimation/{{Animals|2016}}'' (2018) as Yumi (voice) |
74 | * ''Film/FutureWorld2018'' (2018) as Queen |
75 | * ''Series/WhyWomenKill'' (2019) as Simone Grove |
76 | * ''Anime/StarWarsVisions'' (2021) as Bandit Leader (voice) |
77 | * ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDooAndGuessWho'' (2021) as herself (voice) |
78 | * ''Series/CurbYourEnthusiasm'' (2021) as herself |
79 | * ''WesternAnimation/StrangeWorld'' (2022) as Callisto Mal (voice) |
80 | * ''Film/ShazamFuryOfTheGods'' (2023) as Kalypso |
81 | ---- |
82 | !! Her tropes include: |
83 | * ActorAllusion: ''Cypher'' references ''Film/KillBill''. |
84 | * ActorInspiredElement: O-Ren in ''Film/KillBill'' was written to be Japanese. When Quentin Tarantino saw ''Film/ShanghaiNoon'' he rewrote the character to be part Chinese in order for Lucy to play her. |
85 | * ArtistDisillusionment: Most recently, towards her ActionGirl DragonLady filmography. |
86 | * TheCameo: She has one in ''{{Film/Chicago}}'' as Kitty Baxter, an heiress who murders her husband and his lover (nearly stealing Roxie's thunder in the process). |
87 | * CelebrityVoiceActor: As Viper in ''Franchise/KungFuPanda'', Silvermist in ''Franchise/DisneyFairies'' and Mei in ''WesternAnimation/MulanII''. |
88 | * DawsonCasting: She was ten years older than her character Lindsey in ''Film/LuckyNumberSlevin''. |
89 | * DirectedByCastMember: She directed seven episodes of ''Elementary'' in addition to being one the show's leads. |
90 | * DragonLady: A modern day example; especially with her notable roles in ''Series/AllyMcBeal'', ''Film/CharliesAngels2000'' and ''Film/KillBill''. However, in 2021 she became disillusioned by being remembered for playing these roles and now viewed them as an OldShame. |
91 | * EnforcedMethodActing: In ''Film/LuckyNumberSlevin'' Josh Hartnett actually flashed Lucy for the scene where Lindsey discovers Slevin with his towel open. It was scripted but she didn't know he'd be naked - so her reaction is real. |
92 | * FakeMixedRace: For some reason, Creator/JohnCleese was cast as her character's father in ''Film/CharliesAngelsFullThrottle'', and there is no indication that she was adopted. (Liu for her part is fully Chinese.) |
93 | * HostilityOnTheSet: Apparently with Creator/BillMurray on ''Film/CharliesAngels2000''. It was reported that the argument shut down filming for a day. |
94 | * OlderThanTheyLook: She's in her fifties but certainly doesn't look it. |
95 | * PlayingAgainstType: In ''Film/LuckyNumberSlevin'' as a dorky and geeky scientist. |
96 | * RealLifeWritesThePlot: Vivian in ''Film/CharliesAngels2000'' was written to be white. When Lucy was cast as Alex, they changed Vivian to Chinese. |
97 | * StarMakingRole: ''Series/AllyMcBeal'', which even got her a special news report about how she was the only Asian-American doing anything major on television at the time. |
98 | * WhatCouldHaveBeen: |
99 | ** Creator/ThandiweNewton was cast as Alex in ''Film/CharliesAngels2000'' but had to drop out when ''Film/MissionImpossibleII'' ran over schedule. Angelina Jolie and Jada Pinkett Smith had turned it down. |
100 | ** Ling Woo wasn't intended to be a regular. David E Kelly liked Lucy so much as a guest star that he revealed she had a law degree, and had the character join the firm after a few episodes. She had previously auditioned for the role of Nelle, which went to Portia De Rossi. |
101 | ** She auditioned for the role of Elektra in ''Film/{{Daredevil|2003}}'' but lost out to Jennifer Garner. |
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