Actress Lucy Liu received recognition for her humanitarian work last Saturday, during the Harvard Foundation’s annual diversity celebration called Cultural Rhythms.
The event, which was held at Harvard University’s Sanders Theater in Cambridge, featured other on-campus student organizations, which gave regional performances of their respective cultures.
Harvard University’s Dean of Admissions, William R. Fitzsimmons went on stage to present the 2016 Artist of the Year Award to Lucy Liu. In the introduction, Fitzsimmons enumerated the Kill Bill star’s various accomplishments, which include being a director, producer, visual artist, and philanthropist.
Lucy Liu is Honored During Harvard’s ‘Cultural Rhythms’ Event
The 47-year-old actress was born in Queens, New York to immigrant parents who hailed from Beijing and Shanghai. She attended the Stuyvesant High School, which is one of the top high schools in the country, with an admissions rate lower than Harvard. She went on to earn a degree in Asian languages and cultures from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor.
She is most well-known for her acting work in both television and film. Her breakthrough role was Ling Woo, the cold and vicious Chinese-American lawyer in the Fox comedy-drama Ally McBeal. She was also cast as one of the three lead characters in the film Charlie’s Angels alongside Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore. In 2003, she appeared O-Ren Ishii in Quentin Tarantino’s 2003 martial parts film Kill Bill.
Lucy Liu Played the Deadly O-Ren Ishii on ‘Kill Bill’
However, Lucy Liu is also an accomplished visual artist who creates collages, paintings, and photography. She honed her artistic skills by attending the New York Studio School for drawing, painting, and sculpture for two years.
A slideshow of Lucy Liu’s (yes, that Lucy Liu) paintings: http://t.co/U5HNlEYV7P
— Studio 360 (@Studio360show) November 21, 2013
Her humanitarian work first became publicly known when she was chosen as the spokeswoman for a fundraiser organized by Lee Jeans to support breast cancer education and research. In 2004, Lucy Liu was selected as an ambassador for the United States Fund for UNICEF. Over the years, she has traveled to various countries to help sick and impoverished children and has involved herself in film projects that showcase human rights violations in other parts of the world.