Lucy Liu Quotes

United States, Actress
December 2, 1968

Lucy Liu (born December 2, 1968) is an American actress, director and artist who 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. Liu's film work includes starring as one of the heroines (Alex Munday) in Charlie's Angels (2000), portraying O-Ren Ishii in Kill Bill (2003) and starring roles in the main casts of Payback (as Pearl; 1999) and Chicago (as Kitty Baxter; 2002), and the animated film series Kung Fu Panda (2008–present) portraying the character Master Viper.

Also known as Director, Artist

When you work with chains or any kind of weapons, or just when you're using hand-to-hand combat, you are going to get hurt.

Lucy Liu
- Work
- Hand
- Hurt
Working on the Samurai sword is very different because your body position has to be very still. It's a much quieter was of fighting.

Lucy Liu
- Different
- Fighting

It's like kill or be killed, that's my thing basically.

Lucy Liu
Men, when they fight in movies, it's a very different style. Harrison Ford was so cool when he had the whip, and Bruce Lee was such an artist that you couldn't take your eyes off of him.

Lucy Liu
- Men
- Different
- Eyes
I always admired Wonder Woman and the Incredible Hulk - but I don't know if I'd be a very convincing hulk.

Lucy Liu
- Wonder
You have to look out for becoming trapped in a place where people want to see you all the time doing one thing.

Lucy Liu
- People
- Time
The neck is kind of what's sexy in Japan, so you have to have the kimono a little bit back. It was just a whole different way of appealing to what was sexy.

Lucy Liu
- Different
- Sexy
Women like to watch women fight because it makes them feel sort of empowered physically and mentally. They feel kind of jazzed and excited by it.

Lucy Liu
- Women

Nobody really tells me what's going on, and I find out via the trades myself.

Lucy Liu
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.

Lucy Liu
- People
- Work
- Business
You can't look back; you have to keep looking forward.

Lucy Liu
I've definitely become much more aware of physical stunts.

Lucy Liu
I think you just have to appreciate who you are and hopefully they can see what a superhero is about.

Lucy Liu
- Superhero
It's so much fun playing Ling, but I have this fear that people are going to run away from me in terror on the streets. They think I'm going to bite their heads off or something.

Lucy Liu
- People
- Fun
- Fear

I try to distinguish my characters from each other.

Lucy Liu
If you see the Sopranos, you're not going to be speaking in the Shakespearean English.

Lucy Liu
- English
Since we didn't use guns, we wanted to make sure we could earn the ability to win the audience over by making it believable. A lot of what you do when you work out in that mode is use your mental energy.

Lucy Liu
- Work
- Energy
They were concerned about the racial issue. They thought it was not a safe issue to go Asian, unfortunately.

Lucy Liu
Everything I buy is vintage and smells funny. Maybe that's why I don't have a boyfriend.

Lucy Liu
- Why
- Funny
- Boyfriend
I've never really thought about competing with cartoons. If it ever gets to that point, then just shoot me.

Lucy Liu

People use location as a language in films, and Quentin uses action as a language in his films. There's really not a lot of violence. It's more of an emotional beat than it is a physical beat.

Lucy Liu
- People
- Action
- Violence
Women who wear kimonos, when the fight, they have to keep their knees together, and when they use a sword, they have to move the sleeves otherwise it gets caught.

Lucy Liu
- Women
- Together
Being Asian in this business is something you have to consider, because sometimes people aren't as open. They'll say, I can't see you with a Caucasian person.

Lucy Liu
- People
- Business
Japanimation is a whole different art form.

Lucy Liu
- Different
- Art