Ling Bai aka Bai biography

Born in the Sichuan province of China in 1970, Ling Bai began her show business career when she was in grade school with the school choir. When she was 14, she enlisted in the Chinese People's Liberation Army where she spent three years in a performance troop entertaining soldiers stationed in Tibet. After her service, Ling became a performer in a local theater in Beijing where she eventually became involved in the pro-Democracy protests in Tiananmen Square in 1989. As a result of her involvement, Ling emigrated to the USA in 1991 where she soon found work in the Hollywood acting industry with her first English-language role as a villain in The Crow (1994). From then on, Ling found steady work in playing various character roles from the villainous Miss East in Wild Wild West (1999) to a Chinese interpreter in Oliver Stone's Nixon (1995) to a part in Anna and the King (1999), in which she was forced to cut her long hair short for the role. Her appearance in the controversial Red Corner (1997) in playing a pragmatic Chinese People's lawyer jeopardizes her returns to her homeland every year since the film's release.

On Thursday, February 14, 2008 Bai Ling was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport for shoplifting two magazines and a package of batteries. It was an "emotionally crazy" day, Ling explained to E! News. She was coping with the "huge problem of breaking up [before] Valentine's Day ... Wrong boyfriend." She also wrote on her blog after the incident: "Life happens to you either you liked it or not, sometimes I feel you have to be so brave to stand in front of the World, and just hope that people will have a tender heart toward you." On March 5, 2008 she plead guilty to the charge of disturbing the peace. She was then fined $200 ($700 when totaling the fine and penalties) for the action at the airport.

Bai Ling was the winner of "Fug Madness 2008," a competition for worst-dressed celebrity hosted by the Go Fug Yourself blog, which received 1.1 million votes over 10 days.

In interviews with the New York Daily News and FHM, Bai has said she is bisexual.