One of the best-known faces amongst Asian American actors is Lucy Liu. The veteran actress has starred in iconic films like Kill Bill and Charlie's Angels. Although perfectly competent, Liu has not received nearly enough recognition for her body of work, despite having starred in major film and television roles, alongside big Hollywood names.
It is time to take a closer look at the variety of roles the actress has played over the years in the course of her career. Here are some of her best roles, ranked.
Alex (Charlie's Angels)
The iconic angels are all set for a reboot, but for an entire generation before that, Lucy Liu, as Alex, alongside Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz, personified the three seductive combatants who worked for the mysterious Charlie.
The angels are highly trained in combat and capable of blasting and seducing their way into mansions and off rooftops. Liu was a fresh face when the film released, as one of the few Asian American actresses to ace it in a glamorous mainstream role with two other top stars of the time.
Lindsey (Lucky Number Slevin)
This star-studded crime drama has Lucy Liu starring alongside the likes of Morgan Freeman, Ben Kingsley, Stanley Tucci, and Bruce Willis.
A well-paced thriller that narrates the story of an innocent man caught in the feud between two mob lords, the film has Liu playing the apparently affable young Lindsey, who teams up with Josh Hartnett's Slevin as the latter is on the run. Once again, the actress proves that she can hold fort amidst legends, even though the film failed to impress critics.
Madam Wu (The Simpsons)
A lot of Lucy Liu's work over the years features characters she voiced that went on to become iconic. Madam Wu is one such character that appears in the legendary satirical sitcom, The Simpsons, as an officer at the child adoption center from where Selma Bouvier, one of the tobacco addicted, cynical twins, is planning on adopting a child.
Selma sets her sights on adopting a child and visits the adoption center where they consult with Madam Wu. The latter appears to be of a steely disposition a first but turns out to be understanding after all, when she tells Selma that single mothers are capable of bringing children up on their own.
Lady Sagami (The Tale of the Princess Kaguya)
Based on a Japanese folk tale, The Tale of the Princess Kaguya is an artistically crafted fantasy story of a little girl being brought up in the tradition of a princess.
Lady Sagami is the perpetually resigned lady of the palace who is tasked with coaching Kaguya in the etiquette of a princess. Lucy Liu voices the role of Sagami, who finally gives up on Kaguya when she realizes that the latter felt stifled in the court traditions.
Kitty Baxter (Chicago)
Liu has a cameo in the glitzy 2002 musical, Chicago, where she played the feisty Kitty Baxter, the woman who shot her husband and his two lovers while they were in bed and temporarily diverted the public's attention from Roxie, played by Renée Zellwegger.
Even in her brief role, Liu holds her own amongst the razzle-dazzle of the star-studded musical affair. Fans remember Lucy Liu for managing to leave an indelible impression, despite appearing briefly.
Doris Parker (Detachment)
Lucy Liu plays a counselor who becomes a mass of nerves as she gives her best shot at offering guidance to a bunch of unambitious, ignorant, and unmotivated high school teens in this impressionist take on a high school drama.
Dr. Doris Parker fails miserably in her mission to help the students and soon starts showing signs of hysteria herself, as she paddles painfully through a stream of disillusionment. Liu manages to stand out in an amazing ensemble, comprising the likes of Adrian Brody and James Caan.
Ling Woo (Ally McBeal)
A young Liu became a household name when she played, with ease, the domineering, vindictive Ling Woo, who is a bit of a control freak.
As the opposite spectrum of Ally herself, Woo represents the authoritative end of the continuum. Liu puts her heart into the role, which became quite the rage with the young audience, albeit having faced criticism for stereotyping Asian women in what can be said to be a typically vicious "Dragon lady" portrayal.
Viper (Kung-Fu Panda)
Lucy Liu is the voice behind the sympathetic tree viper in the phenomenally successful animated franchise, Kung Fu Panda. Viper was one of the few who was ready to accept and give Po a chance from the very beginning, even as the others were skeptical of his skills.
The actress reprised her role as Master Viper in all the subsequent sequels, receiving commendations for her portrayal of the gentle, ribbon dancing snake, an active member of the Furious Five. The actress has since dedicated the films to her little son for whom she intends to leave behind a legacy.
Joan Watson (Elementary)
In the CBS crime drama, Elementary, a stunning modern-day reboot of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famed literary sleuth, Liu plays Joan Watson, a former medic-turned-partner-in-crime of Johnny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes.
Liu takes on her role with quiet self-assurance, initially as the sobriety companion, employed by Holmes' father to help his son through his recovery from heroin addiction, and then as his trainee, and finally his equal partner in solving cases with the NYPD. Joan Watson has since then most definitely carved her niche as one of the most empowering female characters on television.
O-Ren Ishii (Kill Bill Vol. 1)
Shot as a homage to Japanese anime, Kill Bill Vol. 1 is the first part of Quentin Tarantino's iconic movie about 'the bride' who seeks revenge for her betrayal by the ruthless organization of highly trained assassins of which she had herself been a part in the past.
Lucy Liu plays O-Ren Ishii, a high ranking assassin who, in time, came to lead two of the deadliest assassin squads in Japan. The bride massacres her way through the organization in a manic display of blood and gore and finally end up in a face to face confrontation with O-Ren Ishii herself. The latter is scalped in the course of a violent duel, and the scene of her death remains one of the most legendary scenes in the history of cinema.