Bai Ling

Bai Ling is an actor who rose to fame for her roles in The Crow (1994), Wild Wild West (1999), and Anna and the King (1999).

Bai Ling was born in Chengdu, China where she became a stage and film actor. She moved to the United States in 1991 in order to attend film school at New York University, and later became a US citizen in 1999.

After appearing in several movies in China, she landed her first major US film role in The Crow (1994). In 1998, she was named one of People’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World”.

Ling is openly bi, although her limited understanding of the word made her coming out a bit awkward. In a 2009 interview with GLAAD, she said,

At first when I was in the United States I didn’t always have an interpreter in interviews and I didn’t speak English so well. There was some confusion. My name is pronounced ‘bi’, so when I was asked, ‘Are you bi?’ I said, ‘Yes, I am Bai.’ ‘Do you like men?’ ‘Of course!’ ‘Do you like women?’ ‘Why yes!’ And later I found out what that means and I said, ‘Sure, I am bi!’ But I think the interpreters and the reporters thought that I didn’t know what I was saying because I was so open about it. They were uncomfortable about it. Such a thing is not important for me.

In 2004, Bai made a comeback to Chinese cinema, co-starring with Hong Kong actor Miriam Yeung in independent filmmaker Fruit Chan’s horror thriller Dumplings. Her portrayal of the villainous local chef Aunt Mei in the film earned her the 2005 Hong Kong Film Award for Best Supporting Actress, and led to her renewed popularity among the Chinese film audience.

Ling has over 122 acting credits to her name and another 20 projects in the works as of 2023.