Born to Chinese immigrants in Queens, New York, Lucy Liu has always tried to balance an interest in her cultural heritage with a desire to move beyond a strictly Asian-American experience. Once relegated to "ethnic" parts, the energetic actress is finally earning her stripes as an across-the-board leading lady.Liu graduated from Stuyvesant High School in 1986 and enrolled in New York University; discouraged by the "dark and sarcastic" atmosphere of NYU, however, she transferred to the University of Michigan - www.imdb.com

Lucy Liu shot to stardom in 1998 as the stylish and malicious Ling Woo, a regular on TV's Ally McBeal. Liu, also a model for Revlon, went on to a successful run in movie roles, including 2000's Shanghai Noon (with Jackie Chan), Charlie's Angels (2000, with Drew Barrymore and Cameron Diaz) and Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill (2003, starring Uma Thurman). Her feature films since then haven't found big audiences, but Liu works steadily in films and on television, where she has landed roles on TV in Ugly Betty (i - www.answers.com

While growing up in Queens, N.Y., Liu, the daughter of Chinese immigrants, dreams of an acting career, even though she rarely sees Asian performers in movies or on TV. "When you're younger and you don't feel like you quite fit in anywhere, you think there must be a community of misfits out there that you can fall into," she tells the New York Times. "The popular girls were all blondes," she adds to PEOPLE. "I wanted to be Barbie and I was as opposite to Barbie as you could get." - www.people.com