Whether she plays a growling lawyer or a kick-ass detective, Lucy Liu is not a woman to mess with…

Actress Lucy Liu has made a career out of playing tough women. The Asian-American beauty first became a public face thanks to the role of feisty, ill-tempered lawyer Ling Woo on hit show Ally McBeal.

The show's creator, David E Kelley, wasn't kidding when he originally described Ling's character as 'colder than two weeks in Siberia'. She growled. She glared. She made her entrance to the Wicked Witch of the West theme from The Wizard of Oz. Heck, she even served up a co-worker's pet frog for dinner.

Call it ironic, then, that Lucy Liu, the actress who played Ling, got her start onstage as the sweet-natured lead in a college production of Alice in Wonderland.

'I'm like the anti-Ling,' Liu says. 'It was so much fun playing her, but I have this fear that people are going to run away from me in terror on the streets. They think I'm going to bite their heads off or something.'

Her role as icy cool, high-kicking Alex - a beautiful detective trained in martial arts - in the big screen remake of Charlie's Angels also helped to convince people that she's more than capable of taking care of herself.

As indeed she is. At 5ft 1in, it may be hard to imagine the actress doing bodily harm to anyone, but don't challenge her to a fight: she grew up in Queens ('I'm a tough New Yawker,' she jokes) and she practises the martial art of kali-eskrima-silat. Translation? 'You know, knife and stick stuff,' she says. 'But if it makes you feel any better, I also play the accordion.'

Liu caught the acting bug during her senior year at the University of Michigan, when she was cast as the lead in Alice. After graduation, she supported herself by working three jobs - secretary, aerobics instructor and waitress - while paying for acting lessons and going on auditions.

The hard work paid off, and she went on to land stage roles and bit parts on ER, The X-Files and NYPD Blue. In 1996, Liu co-starred with Rhea Perlman in the short-lived comedy series Pearl, playing a sarcastic but brilliant college student. Then along came Ally.

Wooing her fans

Liu originally auditioned for the role of Nelle Porter in Ally. 'David [Kelley] thought I was too frigid - his intention was to soften Nelle up eventually,' she says.

Liu now thinks the situation is changing. 'It used to be that you had to take on stereotypical roles to keep working - you know, the exotic types, but I think that things are improving,' Liu says. 'There are more credible roles out there that are not race-specific, and there are more talented writers creating these roles.'

Along with her role on Ally McBeal, Liu also made waves on the big screen in the Mel Gibson thriller Payback. Although the film garnered less than enthusiastic reviews, Liu's turn as a dominatrix attracted attention. 'Even if she wasn't dressed in leather and cracking a whip, you'd pay heed,' wrote Rolling Stone's Peter Travers.

Angels revisited

Her Charlie's Angels role alongside Cameron Diaz and Drew Barrymore showed how successfully Liu could transfer her presence and charisma to the big screen. She is now busy filming Charlie's Angels 2, due for release in 2003. So far, much of the buzz around the film centres on the news that Demi Moore, out of the limelight for the past five years, has signed up to play the part of a fallen Angel gone bad. No doubt Liu's Alex will have to help rein her in.

Starring alongside big Hollywood stars such as Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore and Demi Moore shows how far Liu has come since her Ally McBeal days. Likewise, her salary for the role also suggests that she has hit the big time - according to reports, she can now command $4 million a movie.

So what does she think of her newfound celebrity status? 'I don't feel any different, but suddenly everyone wants to talk to me,' she says. 'I guess it comes with the territory.'