Lucy Liu hates Asian stereotypes

Lucy Liu hates being stereotyped because she is Asian.

The ‘Elementary’ star, who was born in New York to Taiwanese parents, often feels her cultural heritage causes her to miss out on big film roles in Hollywood which she knows she would be great in.

She told digital magazine Net-A-Porter: "I wish people wouldn’t just see me as the Asian girl who beats everyone up, or the Asian girl with no emotion. People see Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock in a romantic comedy, but not me.

"You add race to it, and it became, ‘Well, she’s too Asian’, or, ‘She’s too American’. I kind of got pushed out of both categories. It’s a very strange place to be. You’re not Asian enough and then you’re not American enough, so it gets really frustrating.

"I can’t say that there is no racism – there’s definitely something there that’s not easy, which makes [an acting career] much more difficult."

Lucy, 44, struggled to convince her parents to support her decision to pursue acting when she was younger and praises her older brother John for helping accomplish her dream in difficult circumstances.

She added: "They wanted me to have a nine-to-five job with a title. My brother, John, let me stay in his apartment. There was no kitchen, it was just a room, and I slept on the floor with him, while his roommate was on a bunk bed.

"He also paid off my credit card from college. Without him, I don’t think I could have taken [acting] on."