Bai Ling means "white spirit" in her Chinese dialect and she has become a rising actress on both sides of the Pacific. The delicate, almost etherealactress was particularly memorable to USA audiences as Myca, the drug-pushing cannibal with a taste for eyeballs, in Alex Proyas' thriller "The Crow" (1994) and as the President's Chinese interpreter in Oliver Stone's "Nixon" (1995). The latter role was almost ironic as Bai Ling had arrived in the USA just four years earlier not knowing one word of English.

Raised in a typical Chinese family, one accepting of the revolution, Bai Ling was a musical performer at age 14, inducted into the army and sent to Tibet to entertain the troops. In 1986, she also made her film debut in "Haitan" and subsequently" title="a.其次，接着">subsequently appeared in films made in China. Worldwide audiences could catch a glimpse of her in Bernardo Bertolucci's "Little Buddha" (1993), but it was her subsequent efforts in "Dead Funny" (1995) and her delightful turn as an Americanized immigrant in "Somewhere in the City" (1996) that brought her attention. Bai Ling made headlines when she landed the leading role opposite Richard Gere in the political thriller "Red Corner" (1997).

Her TV work has included "Nobody's Girls" (PBS, 1994) a documentary with recreations in which Bai Ling was Mary Bong, a 15-year old Chinese woman who became famous as a midwife after she settled in Alaska. She made her American TV-movie debut in "Dead Weekend" (Showtime, 1995).

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• Born:
  
  on 10/10/1970 in China
  
  
• Job Titles:
  
  Actor

Family

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• Father: Bai Yu-xiang.
  
• Grandmother: Peng Zhi-jia.
  
• Mother: Chen Bin-bin.
  
• Sister: Bai Je.

Significant Others

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• Companion: Chris Isaak. reportedly dating from late 1999

Education

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• New York University, New York, New York

Milestones

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• 1986 Entertained soldiers in Tibet (date approximate)
  
• 1986 Made film debut in "Haitan"
  
• 1990 Moved to USA (date approximate)
  
• 1993 Had cameo role in "Little Buddha"
  
• 1994 Made American TV debut in "Nobody's Girls"
  
• 1994 Made American film debut with "The Crow"
  
• 1995 Made American TV movie debut in "Dead Weekend" (Showtime)
  
• 1995 Played interpreter in "Nixon"
  
• 1997 Snagged role of leading lady opposite Richard Gere in "Red Corner"
  
• 1999 Cast as Tuptim in the remake, "Anna and the King"
  
• 1999 Was virtually wasted in a stereotypical role of an Asian vamp in "Wild Wild West"
  
• 2001 Acted in "The Breed", a vampire thriller, aired on Starz! in lieu of theatrical release
  
• 2001 Had featured role in the NBC miniseries "The Monkey King"
  
• 2003 Was one of the titular "Extreme Team" (lensed 2001), an ABC TV-movie that also served as a pilot for a potential series
  
• 2004 Appeared in Spike Lee's comedy "She Hate Me"
  
• 2004 Featured in the comedy "My Baby's Daddy"
  
• 2004 Played the Mysterious Woman in "Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow" starring Jude Law and Gwyneth Paltrow
  
• Will co-star with Seann William Scott, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Cheri Oteri in Richard Kelly's "Southland Tales" (lensed 2005)