Lucy Liu
Lucy Liu Traditional Chinese 劉玉玲 Simplified Chinese 刘玉玲 Transcriptions Mandarin Hanyu Pinyin Liú Yùlíng Wade–Giles Liu5 Yu4 Ling2 Cantonese Jyutping Lau4 Juk6 Ling4 Lucy Alexis Liu /ˈluː/ (born Lucy Liu on December 2, 1968) is an American actress, model, artist, and occasional film producer and director of Chinese descent. She became known for playing the role of the vicious and ill-mannered Ling Woo in the television series Ally McBeal (1998–2002), for which she was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series. Her film work includes starring as one of the heroines in Charlie's Angels, playing O-ren Ishii in Kill Bill, and appearances in Payback, Chicago, and animated hit Kung Fu Panda. In 2012, Liu joined the cast of the TNT series Southland in the recurring role of Jessica Tang, for which she won the Critics' Choice Television Award for Best Drama Guest Actress. In 2008 she starred in her own television show, ABC comedy-drama, Cashmere Mafia, which ended after one abbreviated season. The show was one of only a few American television shows to have an Asian American series lead. She is currently co-starring in the Sherlock Holmes–inspired crime drama series Elementary, playing Joan Watson and voicing Silvermist in the Disney Tinkerbell film series.