Born in the Szechwan 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. From then on, Ling found steady work in playing various character roles from the villainous Miss East in Wild Wild West to a Chinese interpreter in Oliver Stone's Nixon to a part in Anna and the King, in which she was forced to cut her long hair short for the role. Her appearance in the controversial Red Corner in playing a pragmatic Chinese People's lawyer jeopardizes her returns to her homeland every year since the film's release.



One of People Magazine's "50 Most Beautiful People in the World 1998" Had a four line appearance in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005). Unfortunately her appearance (along with a small cameo of George Lucas's daughter) got cut out (G. Lucas: "It wasn't like it was a major thing to begin with and I just cut that whole secondary story out of the movie quite a while ago"). Name means 'white spirit' in English Claimed that her role on Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith (2005) was cut during editing because of her posing for the June 2005 issue of US "Playboy" magazine. She was the first woman from the People's Republic of China on its cover. George Lucas strongly denied that this was the reason she was cut. Cut off most of her waist-length hair for her role in Anna and the King (1999). She turned in one of the most acclaimed performances for her first Hong Kong movie Sam gang yi (2004) ( "Three Extremes: Dumplings"). Her character is a creepy 60 year old ageless beauty, and she helps women by performing illegal abortions, but she also uses the unwanted fetuses to be made into dumplings which is her secret for ageless beauty. Arrested for shoplifting at Los Angeles International Airport on February 13, 2008.