A Field Guide To Bai Ling

If there's ever been an actress who's super comfortable showing her body, who doesn't mind slip a nip here and there (and there again), who's equally at home in serious films and straight-to-DVD B masterpieces co-starring Kimbo Slice, well, it'd have to be the angel known as Bai Ling. We've followed her over the years from nip slip to nip slip to nude scene; and with her recent sexy photo shoot, we find ourselves feeling inspired to dig deep and learn a little bit more about the lovely lady – and why she's so compelled to shed her skivvies on camera (though we're pretty sure the answer to that last question is "Because she's so darn hot.").

Bai Ling was born October 10, 1966, in Chengdu, China, to two artistically inclined parents: her father was a musician in the People's Liberation Army, and later a music teacher, while her mother was a dancer, stage actress, and a literature teacher in Sichuan University. Depending on what you know about communist China, it may or may not surprise you to know that Bai Ling's youth was filled with a whole lot of artistic opportunities: growing up during the Cultural Revolution, she honed her acting skills by participating in Eight model plays at her elementary school shows. As a teenager she passed the PLA exams and became an artist soldier in Tibet, entertaining the troops with musical theater.

Unfortunately, Ling's experiences in Tibet were not particularly positive. She has stated that she was regularly sexually abused by older male officers, and that this period of abuse led to her struggles with alcohol addiction – and, sadly, a period in a mental hospital. But luckily Ling's life was not completely derailed by these unhappy episodes: after leaving the mental hospital, she began booking work as a professional actress, garnering her first movie role in 1984, and making her way to the United States to attend NYU's film department as a visiting scholar in 1991.

The Chinese film scene had gotten Ling many roles and quite a bit of experience, but it was in the US that her career truly began to take off. In 1994, Ling secured her first major American film role, playing the half-sister/lover of the villain in "The Crow;" three years later she starred opposite Richard Gere in "Red Corner," a film that changed her life both personally and professionally. On the professional front, "Red Corner" established Ling as a serious actress, earning her praise from The New York Times and San Diego Film Critics Society. On the personal front, well – the film was, shall we say, more than a bit critical of human rights abuses in China, something the Chinese government did not take too kindly to. Ling's Chinese citizenship was revoked, leaving her countryless until she was able to become a US citizen in 1999.

Acting may have brought Bai Ling into the country, but it was her gorgeous good looks – and the aforementioned willingness to show off all of her body – that really established her as a force to be reckoned with. In 1998, she earned a coveted slot on People's "50 Most Beautiful People" list; seven years later, she was showing just how beautiful she was in the pages of Playboy. Though there were rumors that her Playboy shoot led to her getting cut from "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith," there's little proof that that was the case (George Lucas himself claims it was just a coincidence); and, fortunately for all of us, the forces of prudery didn't seem to hold back her career one bit.

Over the past decade, Ling has racked up acting gig after acting gig, appear on TV ("Entourage," "Lost") in films ("Shanghai Baby," "Crank: High Voltage," "A Beautiful Life," "Love Ranch"), and, of course, on the red carpet, where she garnered scads of attention for both her wild outfits and her frequent nip slips – both of which we happen to adore quite a great deal.

Given her beauty, her success, and her total lack of shame, Bai Ling can sometimes seem like an otherworldly creature. And if you've ever felt like she's not quite human, well, you're not alone. In an interview in 2009, Bai Ling claimed to hail from the moon, where she told reporters her grandmother still lives. In her own words, "I'm not really in reality. I'm in my own universe and my mind is a million miles somewhere else... Why I feel like I come from the moon is because my mother told me I was found somewhere."

On our part, all we know is that whether Bai Ling's from the moon or Earth or somewhere else entirely, we certainly hope she stays right where she is for a good long while. After all, she's far too fun for us to bid goodbye to any time soon. 

Need to see more nude photos of Bai Ling?  Mr.Skin will have your fill!