Actress Lucy Liu returns to television as part of the cast of the critically acclaimed TV series Southland on TNT. She plays Officer Jessica Tang. Here’s more on her character.

Officer Jessica Tang is a smart, engaging and caring officer assigned to John Cooper. Her first task is to evaluate his physical state on his first day back from surgery. She’s been on the force for 13 years, but she’s only been back on the streets for about a year after being nearly beaten to death by a man she pulled over. The video of the beating is now used to train officers what not to do during a routine traffic stop. Although Tang has enormous courage and strength, she relies on quirky habits throughout the week to keep her life in order (e.g. she won’t turn left on a certain street and has to eat at a certain place on a particular day). Consequently, she has several unfortunate nicknames in the department.

You can catch Southland on Tuesdays on TNT.

Lucy Liu joins Southland on TNT

More about Lucy Liu
Lucy Liu has had great critical and commercial success in film, television and on Broadway. Her latest film “Detachment,” directed by Tony Kaye and co-starring Adrien Brody, James Caan and Marcia Gay Harden, will be released through Tribeca films this year. The film received honors at the 2011 Deauville Film Festival; the Cartier New Revelation Award and the International Critics’ Prize. Her next film, “The Man With the Iron Fists,” directed by The Rza for Universal Pictures, co-stars Russell Crowe and is slated for a Spring 2012 release. “The Trouble With Bliss,” a comedy co-starring Michael C. Hall and Peter Fonda, premiered on the festival circuit last year, taking away honors at the Newport Beach Film Festival. 2011 also saw “Someday This Pain Will Be Useful To You,” Roberto Faenza’s adaptation of the novel by Peter Cameron at the Rome Film Festival.

Liu made her Broadway debut in March 2010, in the Tony Award-winning play “God of Carnage”, starring as ‘Annette’ in a cast that included Jeff Daniels, Dylan Baker and Janet McTeer. In January 2010 she made her directorial debut for the film adaptation of the best-selling novel “Half the Sky” by Nicholas D. Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Her debut as a producer, of the critically acclaimed film “Freedom’s Fury,” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2006.

Some of Lucy’s previous film credits include “Charlie’s Angels,” “Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle,” “Kung Fu Panda” and it’s sequel as the voice of Viper, “Kill Bill,” “Chicago,” “Code Name: The Cleaner,” “Rise,” “Watching the Detectives,” “Domino,” “Lucky Number Slevin,” “3 Needles,” “Shanghai Noon,” “Payback,” “Play It to the Bone,” “Ballistic: Ecks Vs Sever” and “The Year of Getting to Know Us.” On television, Lucy was nominated for the NAACP award for Outstanding Actress for her starring role in the December 2010 Lifetime Network romantic comedy, “Marry Me.” Liu appeared as the unforgettable ‘Ling Woo’ in the hit Fox series, “Ally McBeal,” a role for which she earned an Emmy and Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. She has also appeared in starring roles on the hit series “Cashmere Mafia” and “Dirty Sexy Money” and has guest starred on HBO’s “Sex & the City” and “Ugly Betty.” She has also lent her voice to such animated hits as “The Simpsons,” “Futurama,” and “King of the Hill.”

A passionate human rights advocate, Lucy produced and narrated the powerful documentary “Redlight,” which focuses on the plight of women and children sold into sexual slavery. The film premiered at The Woodstock Film Festival in 2009 and aired on Showtime in 2010. Liu has been a UNICEF ambassador since 2004 and has travelled to Lesotho, Pakistan, Cote D’Ivoire, The Democratic Republic of Congo, Cairo, Peru and Egypt. A native New Yorker, Liu graduated from Stuyvesant High School, attending NYU and later received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan.