Lucy Liu's Sophomore Directorial Episode of 'Elementary' to Air Thursday
"Charlie's Angel" actress Lucy Liu has gone behind the scenes to direct an episode of "Elementary" to air on Thursday. She helmed another episode for the CBS crime drama in which she also stars.
The 46-year-old Chinese-American actress appears in the modern retelling of the classic series as Sherlock Holmes' sober companion, Dr. Joan Watson, a surgeon hired to ensure a newly-rehabilitated Holmes abstains from drugs.
"It's harder for women in general. You have to ask and ask and ask. You have to break the door down. ... and come in with a real belief in what you're doing," Liu admitted to Associated Press about the challenge of balancing acting and directing.
Liu further likened the medium of television to a conveyor belt-like machine going on fast speeds, and having to keep up with those speeds to avoid hard spills.
So far, Liu says she has avoided the pitfalls of directing and is looking forward to repeating the experience.
This is Liu's sophomore television directorial attempt after an episode last season where she was in charge as well.
In "Elementary," which is currently in its third season, Liu stars alongside English actor Jonny Lee Miller, who plays Sherlock Holmes, Aidan Quinn as Captain Thomas Gregson, and Jon Michael Hill as Detective Marcus Bell.
Liu is no stranger to television either. She is well-known for her role as Ling Woo in the main cast of "Ally McBeal" from 1998 to 2002, and has voiced Master Viper in "Kung Fu Panda: Legends of Awesomeness" for Dreamworks Animation on Nickolodeon since 2011, a spin-off of her character from the two previous movie versions.
Liu is also set to star in "Kung Fu Panda 3" in 2016.
