Ling Woo
| Ling Woo | |
|---|---|
| Ally McBeal character | |
 |
|
| Portrayed by | Lucy Liu |
| Information | |
| Occupation | Judge, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Of Counsel, Cage & Fish |
| Nationality | Chinese-American |
Ling Woo is a fictional character in the US comedy-drama Ally McBeal, portrayed by Chinese-American actress Lucy Liu. A Mandarin-speaking Chinese-American lawyer, Ling has been described as cold and ferocious and knowledgeable in an art of sexual pleasure unknown to the Western world. At the time, she was the most famous and only significant representative of Asian women on US television (besides news anchors and reporters). Thus, the portrayal of Ling Woo attracted much scholarly attention in the US.
Ally McBeal is an American television series created by David E. Kelley which ran on the Fox network from 1997 to 2002. Set in the fictional Boston law firm of Cage, Fish and Associates, the series explores the relationships among various lawyers working at the firm, often as they relate to gender-specific issues raised in court cases. Ling Woo was a character written by Kelley specifically for actress Lucy Liu after she failed to secure the role of Nelle Porter in the show.
Woo appeared for the first time in the second season as a client suing a Howard Stern-like talk show host named Wick. She was suing because Wick's programs contributed to sexual harassment in her workplace. Wick claimed Woo brought suit because she had a "slutty little Asian thing going", and Woo said that she wanted to sleep with Wick because if she did, she would kill him. The character proved to be a hit, and Liu was signed on as a regular for the series.
Ling became a lawyer with the firm by pressuring Richard Fish, the firm's senior partner, to hire her services as counsel. She remained a regular on the show until 2001, when her role was reduced to four episodes in the upcoming season. Ling's employment history changes that season when the Governor of Massachusetts offers Ling a job as judge after Ling complimented her twin babies. Woo is a graduate of Cornell Law School where she was editor of the Law Review.
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