Lucy Liu

Born: 2nd December 1967 Where: Queens, New York

The martial arts expert and artist is now a household name thanks to the part of Alex Munday in the two Charlie's Angels blockbusters.

However, she has also demonstrated herself an actress of range in movies such as Chicago, Mike Figgis's Hotel and Tarantino's martial arts extravaganza Kill Bill.

Born to Chinese immigrants in New York, she 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 after her first year.

During her senior year, Liu auditioned for a small part in a production of Alice in Wonderland...and walked away with the lead.

She moved to Los Angeles and split her time between auditions and waiting tables, eventually scoring a guest appearance as a waitress on Beverly Hills 90210.

That performance led to more walk-on parts in shows like NYPD Blue, ER and The X Files.

Her first big screen role was in the Oscar-winning Jerry Maguire, where she played an ex girlfriend of Tom Cruise's character.

Liu followed this up with a few more minor film roles (Guy, Gridlock'd) until she finally landed her big break.

Ally McBeal hit the small screen in 1997 and Lucy was cast as growling, ill-tempered lawyer Ling Woo who became an integral part of the character-led series.

This gave her film career a much-needed boost - in 1999, she was cast as a dominatrix in the Mel Gibson action flick Payback.

She also played a hitchhiker in the poorly-received boxing saga Play It to the Bone and starred as the kidnapped Princess Pei Pei in Jackie Chan's Shanghai Noon.

Next came the call from McG and her starring role opposite Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore in Charlie's Angels and the sequel Full Throttle.

She changed styles to appear in Mike Figgis's Hotel with Salma Hayek and David Schwimmer and played a spy in Natali's disturbing Cypher with Jeremy Northam.

Liu also played Kitty Baxter in the acclaimed adaptation of the musical Chicago with Catherine Zeta Jones and Renee Zellwegger.

In 2003, she played a sword-wielding villain in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill and also provided the voice for Madame Wu in The Simpsons.

Recent work has included the dire Tony Scott action thriller Domino alongside Keira Knightley and Lucky Number Slevin with Josh Hartnett.