Poppy Liu (柳波; pinyin: Liǔ Bō) is a Chinese actress, activist and poet, known for her roles in the sitcoms '' Sunnyside'', '' Hacks'', and '' iCarly''.

Early life and education

Liu was born in Xi'an, China. Her family moved to

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

when she was two while her father, an engineering professor, earned a second PhD. During this time, her mother attended night classes in computer programming and worked at hotels and McDonald's. The family moved back to China when Liu was 14, where she attended an American school in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flowin ...

. During high school, she became interested in performing, and participated in Chinese dance, ballet and theater. Liu attended Colgate University in

Hamilton, New York Hamilton is a town in Madison County, New York, United States. The population was 6,690 at the 2010 census. The town is named after American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton. The Town of Hamilton contains a village also named Hamilton, the s ...

, and majored in

women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

and theater. She graduated in 2013.

Career

After graduation, Liu founded the production company Collective Sex, with a focus on decolonizing storytelling and eliminating stigmas around sex and identity. In 2018, she debuted her short film ''Names of Women'' in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, which also toured across the country at college campuses and reproductive organizations. The film was made with an all-female crew and is based on a true abortion story. In 2019, Liu had a starring role in the

NBC The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...

sitcom '' Sunnyside'', which moved to Hulu after four episodes. Liu has also had roles on '' New Amsterdam'', '' Law & Order: Special Victims Unit'', and ''

Better Call Saul ''Better Call Saul'' is an American crime and legal drama television series created by Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. Part of the ''Breaking Bad'' franchise, it is a spin-off of Gilligan's previous series, ''Breaking Bad'', and serves as a ...

''. She has a recurring role as the blackjack dealer to a wealthy comedian in the 2021

HBO Max HBO Max is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in the United States on May 27, 2020, the service is built around the libraries of HBO, Warner Bros., Cartoon Netw ...

sitcom '' Hacks'', and a recurring role as performer Double Dutch on the 2021

Paramount+ Paramount+ is an American subscription video on-demand service owned by Paramount Global. The service's content is drawn primarily from the libraries of CBS Media Ventures (including CBS Studios), Paramount Media Networks (formerly Viacom Media ...

sitcom '' iCarly''.

Personal life

Liu is a

doula A doula () is a trained professional who provides expert guidance for the service of others and who supports another person (the doula's client) through a significant health-related experience, such as childbirth, miscarriage, induced abortion or ...

and offers free services to women of color and transgender people. Liu is nonbinary, uses they/she pronouns, and identifies as queer. She had an abortion in 2015, which inspired a short film she created. Liu met Jonah Tucker in 2020 and they subsequently began dating. She gave birth to their first child in 2022.

Filmography

Television

References

External links

* * American actors of Chinese descent Actors from Minnesota LGBT actresses Queer actors American non-binary actors Chinese non-binary people Living people Chinese LGBT actors LGBT people from Minnesota American LGBT people of Asian descent Actors from Shanghai Actors from Xi'an Year of birth missing (living people) {{US-actor-stub