麻豆APP

Photo by Eva Rinaldi from

Top 10 Amazing Facts about Lucy Liu

Lucy Liu was born on December 2, 1968, in Jackson Heights, Queens, New York. In high school, she adopted her middle name 鈥淎lexis.鈥�

She is the youngest of three children born to Cecilia, who worked as a biochemist, and Tom Liu, a trained civil engineer who sold digital clock pens to make a living.

lucy Liu grew up in a 鈥渄iverse鈥� neighbourhood learned to speak Mandarin at home and began studying English when she was 5.

She studied kali-eskrima-silat as a hobby when she was young. Liu attended Joseph Pulitzer Middle School and graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1986.

When she was at Stuyvesant High, she went on an exchange program at Victoria Junior College, one of the top senior high schools in Singapore.

Lucy Liu is an American actress, voice actress, director, producer, and singer. An attractive and intelligent actress, she serves as an inspiration to many Asian actors who aspire to make it big in Hollywood.

Following a string of early appearances in some popular series, she achieved fame when she joined the cast of the legal comedy series 鈥楢lly McBeal鈥� where she played the malicious 鈥楲ing Woo.

As an Asian-American actress, Liu also faced many obstacles on her way to success. If you are not fascinated by Lucy Liu鈥檚 charm, these 10 amazing facts below will definitely make you fall in love with her.

1. Lucy Liu’s Breakout Role was in the Comedy Series Ally McBeal

Image by Georges Biard from

At the time Liu debuted on 鈥淎lly McBeal鈥� in 1998, there were no prominent Asian-American characters on TV. It also gave Liu a chance to embody a character for a long period of time.

She got famous after playing the role of the malicious and impolite Ling Woo in Ally McBeal for which she was also nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award in the category of Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Screen Actors Guild Award in the category of Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series.

Lucy Liu鈥檚 big break came with that role in Ally McBeal, where she played the seductive and confident Chinese-American lawyer Ling Woo, who was basically the antithesis to the plucky, white titular lead.

Originally, Liu had auditioned for the supporting character role of Nelle Porter (which went on to be played by Portia DeRossi).

The producers actually like Liu so much that they invented the Woo role specifically for her.

2.  Lucy Liu Trained in Filipino Martial Arts

Image by Mr. Colling from

From a young age, Lucy Liu was trained in the martial arts of kali-eskrima-silat, AKA the weapons-based technique of fighting involving sticks, knives, and other types of blades.

Eskrima, Kali, Silat, and Arnis are umbrella terms for the traditional martial arts of the Philippines that emphasize weapon-based fighting with sticks, knives, other bladed weapons and various improvised weapons.

It also includes hand to hand combat (Panantukan, Dumog, etc.) and weapon disarming techniques.

Though Filipino martial arts are practised by people of all sizes, they are especially well suited for women or smaller individuals, since a weapon tends to equalize size differences.

3.  Lucy Liu is a Polyglot

Image by from

A polyglot is a person who knows and is able to use several languages. If someone is fluent in more than five languages, the person is called a polyglot.

She learned to speak Mandarin from birth and only started to speak English at the age of five.

Liu is a polyglot: she is fluent in six languages. Mandarin Chinese is her native, for it was the only language in the family; living in the United States required a profound knowledge of English.

Besides, Lucy speaks French, Spanish, Italian, and Japanese.

FYI: Bilingual 鈥� Two different languages. Trilingual 鈥� Three different languages. Polyglot 鈥� Three/Four + different languages. Hyperpolyglot 鈥� Six+ different languages.

4.  Lucy Liu Battled Against a Lack of Diversity to Become a Hollywood Star

Lucy Liu at Elementary panel at 2012 Comic-Con Image by https://www.flickr.com/photos/genevieve719/ from

While she performed in theatre productions as a student, she earned a degree in Asian languages and cultures, rather than the arts.

Still, she never gave up on her dream and she soon began 鈥渇reelancing鈥� with a number of agents in order to go out for roles in theatre, film, television and commercials.

鈥淓veryone was willing to have me on their roster, but not commit to me because they didn鈥檛 know, realistically, how many auditions I could get,鈥� Liu says.

鈥淭he challenge from the beginning was just the diversity and 鈥榃e don鈥檛 really know what to do with you鈥� and 鈥楾here鈥檚 not going to be a lot of work for you.鈥欌��

Although Liu has worked steadily as an actress for almost three decades and more recently stepped behind the scenes to produce and direct, she admits those early challenges in her career have not fully dissipated.

The 2000s hit Charlie鈥檚 Angels brought Lucy many fans but less money than some of her colleagues. While her colleague Cameron Diaz gained $20 million for her role, Liu received five times less.

5. Liu was the First Asian Lady to Host SNL

Image by Eva Rinaldi from

In 2000, Lucy Liu became the first Asian woman to ever host Saturday Night Live. It would take another 18 years until another Asian woman, Awkwafina, repeated the honour.

Liu hosted SNL in December 2000, about two months after the release of the wildly popular 鈥淐harlie’s Angels鈥� remake, in which she starred alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz. 鈥淚 just found out that I am the first Asian woman to ever host SNL,鈥� Liu said then, to applause

Awkwafina is only the second Asian American woman to host 鈥淪aturday Night Live鈥� in the show鈥檚 44 seasons. In her monologue, she paid homage to her predecessor, Lucy Liu.

Before she became known as Awkwafina, she was Nora Lum from Queens. 11-year-old Nora was outside 30 Rockefeller Plaza in 2000 when Liu hosted.

鈥淚 was a kid and I didn鈥檛 have a ticket, so I knew I wasn鈥檛 getting in,鈥� said Awkwafina, one of the breakout stars of the romantic comedy 鈥淐razy Rich Asians.鈥� 鈥淏ut I just wanted to be near the building. And I remember how important that episode was for me and how it totally changed what I thought was possible for an Asian American woman.鈥�

6. Liu is an Amazing Voice Artist

Image by Eva Rinaldi from

Liu lent her famous voice to Kung Fu Panda (2008) as Viper. The role reunited her with her Shanghai Noon (2002) co-star, Jackie Chan.

Kung Fu Panda is an animated movie franchise that has thus far spawned 3 films which have been hugely popular.

The films follow the story of Po, a lazy panda who dreams of being a Kung Fu master. Liu plays Viper the snake, who is a member of the 鈥楩urious Five鈥� Kung Fu masters.

Liu鈥檚 voice is gentle and suits the role well, once again showing her diverse range of acting and voice acting talents.

Liu is a regular voice actress. She lent her voice to six of Disney鈥檚 direct-to-DVD Disney Fairies and Tinker Bell movies as the fairy Silvermist, an Asian water-talent fairy.

Lucy Liu voiced herself in the Futurama episode, 鈥淚 Dated a Robot.鈥� In this episode, Fry downloads a Lucy Liu personality into a robot that looks like the actress.

7.  Lucy Liu is Serious about Arts

Image from Wikimedia

From 2004 to 2006, she attended the New York Studio School for drawing, painting and sculpture. You can never be too good at all the crafts, I guess.

The woman uses the pseudonym 鈥淵u Ling鈥� for her paintings and sculptures. One can see them online on the artist鈥檚 website or offline at the National Museum of Singapore; exhibitions are also held all over the world

She is a gifted artist and her collection of art pieces were once exhibited at the Cast Iron Gallery in SoHo in early ’80s and also in Venice, California.

The actress has made it visible in her canvases her support of the LGBT rights. Lucy is a talented painter and presented a series of erotic paintings, some of which pictured lesbians in a bed or each other鈥檚 arms.

Lucy Liu has published her own artbook Seventy Two, which is comprised of 72 original pieces of ink and acrylic from the actress-turned-artist.

The work is inspired by the 72 Names of God, i.e. sequences of Hebrew letters. The book鈥檚 Limited Edition printed only 72 copies. As with many of her artworks, Liu donated a share of her profits to UNICEF.

8.  Charity is an Essential Part of Lucy Liu

Image by Bethany from

Liu survived a breast cancer scare in 1991 after doctors discovered a lump in her breast. Shell-shocked, she immediately went into surgery to have the lump removed.

Although the lump was found to be benign, Liu later became the spokesperson for the Lee National Denim Day fundraisers for breast cancer research.

Charity and education are essential parts of Liu鈥檚 activities.

For instance, she helped the Lee National Denim Day raise money and spread information about breast cancer; Liu visited several developing countries.

She is a proponent of LGBT people鈥檚 rights as well.

9. Lucy Liu has Amassed many Awards in her Career

Image by from

Lucy Alexis Liu is an American actress, producer, director, and artist. Her accolades include winning a Critics’ Choice Television Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Seoul International Drama Award, in addition to nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award.

Lucy Liu can boast many prestigious prizes: MTV Movie Award, Teen Choice Awards and New York Women in Film & Television Muse Award. The TV series Ally McBeal gave her Screen Actors Guild Award back in 1998.

10.  Lucy Liu is a member of Chi Omega Fraternity

Image by carmichaellibrary from

Chi Omega (围惟, also known as ChiO) was founded April 5, 1895 at the University of Arkansas by Ina May Boles, Jean Vincenheller, Jobelle Holcombe, and Alice Simonds, with the help of Dr. Charles Richardson.

Chi Omega is an “intergenerational women’s organization” that states its founding purposes as: “friendship, personal integrity, service to others, academic excellence and intellectual pursuits, community and campus involvement and personal and career development.

Chi Omega provides a steady, consistent guide for Sisters to create a path of purpose and success. Throughout her life, Chi Omega will inspire her to pursue her purpose, in whatever way she defines it.

Chi Omega has more than 345,000 initiated members, 180 collegiate chapters, and 243 alumnae chapters.

Despite being a women’s organization, Chi Omega only refers to itself as a women’s fraternity instead of a sorority.

Though she has embraced her roots, she has not allowed it to limit her as an artist. Lucy Liu has become an important figure in the Asian American community.

Lucy Liu has broken the mould that Asian actors are prone to passivity and made herself a veritable star. She is seen as a serious actress in Hollywood.