Lucy Liu

In 1991, Liu underwent surgery after a breast cancer scare. A lump was removed, and later was found to be benign. She has studied various religions, such as Kabbalah, Buddhism, and Taoism.

In 2004, she was appointed an ambassador for U.S. Fund for UNICEF. She traveled to Pakistan and Lesotho, among several other countries, and became a spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign.

She gave birth to a son via a gestational surrogate on August 27, 2015. The name of her son is Rockwell Lloyd Liu. The father of her son is unknown.

Lucy Liu was born on December 2, 1968 in Jackson Heights, New York, as the youngest of three children born to biochemist Cecilia and Tom Liu, a trained engineer, who sold digital clock pens to make a living.

Her older siblings are John and Jenny. She attended Joseph Pulitzer Middle School, and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1986. At Stuyvesant High, she went on an exchange program to Singapore.

She enrolled at the New York University, and transferred to the University of Michigan where she was a member of the Chi Omega sorority. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Asian languages and cultures.

Liu began her acting career in 1989, auditioning for a supporting role in a University of Michigan production of “Alice in Wonderland” during senior year, and won the lead role despite being an Asian.

After small roles in films and TV, she was cast as Ling Woo, a Chinese American lawyer, in the 1997 comedy-drama, “Ally McBeal”. High audience ratings secured Liu as a permanent cast member.

In “Payback”, a 1999 crime thriller, she portrayed Pearl, a high-class BDSM prostitute connected to the Chinese mafia.

In 2000, she essayed the role of Princess Pei-Pei in “Shanghai Noon”, an American martial arts action comedy western film starring Jackie Chan and Owen Wilson. The film was well-received critically and commercially.

In the 2002 film adaptation of the Broadway hit “Chicago”, she played the murderess Kitty Baxter, a millionaire heiress, who briefly outshines the chief characters when she kills her husband, and his two mistresses.

She was cast as Alex Munday, one of the three angels, in the 2000 movie “Charlie’s Angels” alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz. The film earned a worldwide total of more than $264 million.

In Quentin Tarantino’s 2003 action film “Kill Bill, Volume 1”, her sterling performance as Japanese-Chinese-American O-Ren Ishii, Queen of the Tokyo underworld, and former Deadly Viper Assassination Squad member won her many awards.

She voiced Silvermist in the “Tinker Bell” series of movies. She also voiced Master Viper in “Kung Fu Panda”, “Kung Fu Panda 2”, and “Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness”.