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AsianConnections: You
wore a wig when you shaved your head? Did you keep it?
Bai
Ling: Yeah, I have it!
Bai
Ling: At one time, I remember it was sunny and I wore
it because Louis told me I have these cosmetics people to meet,
so I must be wearing my wig! You're bald, and you'll never get a
commercial! During the whole meeting, I did not know what
I was talking about. The entire thing, I was looking at the guy.
You could tell. Maybe I was behaving strangely. I had this terrible
imagination about what if I came in and he didn't know! It's
really awful. So I said, I can't do this, I'm going to take
it off.
AsianConnections: Are
you mistaken for other people a lot?
Bai
Ling: No, I think in general, when a play a part, I look
completely different. Nobody really recognizes, like who is
this? Even in "Red Corner," they said, which one did you play?
I said, which one did I play?! They couldn't recognize me
somehow. I think my first movie was "The Crow." That
was a while ago. It was so exciting because it was my first American
movie and I went to the movie theater to see myself, I was sitting
there with this anticipation that someone would recognizing me.
[Laughs] I was in the ladies room, and no one recognized me!
[Laughs] Not even my friend. She called me, and she said,
"Oh Bai Ling, I did not recognize you in the entire movie, but I
saw your name." But it's really a good thing, and it confuses people,
but somehow when you do a lot of work, sometimes it's part of you.
Well it's what I've done. I think until now it's really been
my character. I play different characters that look completely
different. I think it's a good thing.
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Photo:
Andrew Cooper -
20th Century Fox
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AsianConnections: You're
settling in the United States. Do you have family here or are you
by yourself?
Bai
Ling: I'm by myself, but I have family. They are
with me. I call my grandmother every weekend. They are very
close to me.
AsianConnections: Are
you making your home in Los Angeles or New York?
Bai Ling: I'm in Los Angeles.
AsianConnections: But
you went to New York University for a while?
Bai
Ling: Right. I lived in New York. I like New York a lot,
because there's lots of life there. And chaos. I like those things.
There's a lot of culture there, and people from different places.
Here, sometimes I feel like in Los Angeles, sometimes when I'm driving,
I feel like I'm the only one who lives here. I don't see people.
I feel like maybe there's an underground and everybody lives there.
And in the evening, everybody emerges in their cars. Where
do all these people come from? Nobody's there. It's a strange
place. You don't see them.
AsianConnections: What's
up next?
Bai
Ling: Actually, I'm reading a lot of scripts. And
I think I have a lot of surprises coming. I like to surprise.
And a lot of surprises for you, but currently it's just like?yesterday.
Today I'm still shooting this TV show, and they created this cool
character for me. And?if you look at her you feel like she
is stepping out of a comic book. She is a powerful leader,
and she is very dangerous, and she kicks [butt]. She takes
charge and fights, and very sexy, very smart. I'm just doing a guest
star in one episode for now for February called "Shi." It's kind
of like the "Matrix." I like to do something more advanced,
more futuristic. Different from "Anna and the King," period!
AsianConnections: Do
you have a routine? How do you stay in such great shape? Do
you have any skin tips? What do you eat?
Bai
Ling: I eat a lot, sleep a lot, no exercise. I really
don't do any exercise.
AsianConnections: Do
you watch the foods that you eat?
Bai
Ling: I eat a lot of fruit. I like fruit. And I
started liking cheesecake, which is dangerous! [Laugher] But
sometimes I swim, just for fun. I don't like exercise. I don't know
why. It's tiring to do exercise. I did it once, and I was
hurting everywhere. It hurts! And it's so boring in the exercise
room. I said why am I doing this?!
AsianConnections:
We have a fan section?do you have a favorite color, do you have
other favorite actors that you like?
Bai Ling: You
know, my color depends on my mood. It changes depending on where
I am and which mood I'm in. It's like, in my character, this
character that I'm playing, if I'm aroused, then they have this
card on my back, they have this?singular word which [is] pink.
[Laugher] I'm just kidding! And I think it depends on my mood,
actually. If I'm in a peaceful mood, and somehow I like the
white of sunlight, the blue sky is beautiful. And sometimes
when I am depressed, I like kind of a dark blue or purple even.
So it depends on my mood.
AsianConnections: Any
hobbies?
Bai
Ling: Writing. I'm writing my novel, about my experience
in acting. It takes a long time, and somehow that's something I
must do. And sometimes I'm lazy. Sometimes I just basically
sit there watching the sun. I have a terrace in my house, and sometimes
I just sit there watching the sunlight creating all the sculptures
on my terrace. It's beautiful. Nature gives you all this gift.
All this art. Sometimes you don't see it. They are not there
for you to see, they are there for their existence at that moment.
Sometimes it is the shape of a butterfly, a mountain, a boat, [or]
a chair, and the next hour it changes. So sometimes I just watch
them.
AsianConnections:
What is your favorite music?
Bai
Ling: I like classical music. It's good, like here
you have to drive, and I always put on the classical music station
and just listen, because you're sitting in a car for a long long
time.
AsianConnections: I
understand that Chow Yun-Fat's wife helped him with his English.
Bai
Ling: So I don't have a wife to help me. [Laugher]
I do have lots of friends. Like basically all my friends,
my working friends, are American. My intention from the beginning
was to stay away from Chinese, because otherwise I'll never learn
English. You know, you have this laziness, you hang out with [Americans],
it's much easier. Somehow I changed myself to learn English in a
different way. Even if I don't understand it I try to make
a lot of American friends. And in this way I get to learn
their culture too. I learn basically in life, not in school.
And sometimes I embarrass myself when I do interviews with the Chinese
press and newspapers, and I speak Chinese but I use English words,
which is really bad. But I do not know how to translate into
Chinese because I learned in English. And some words you cannot
directly translate. I was so embarrassed. I said, I don't know this
word! And seemingly not right in Chinese, because the mindset
is different.
AsianConnections: Well,
your English is perfect.
Bai
Ling: Ask my coach! [Laughter]
-- AC Team
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