Crush of the week: Lucy Liu

Lucy Liu is enjoying a purple patch in her decades-long career. She is currently playing Joan Watson, a (long overdue) female incarnation of super-detective Sherlock Holmes’s sidekick in Elementary. She is wonderful: smart and quick, an asset and a challenge to Jonny Lee Miller’s Holmes. Liu is more than a match for his quirks; her Watson does not let him get away with his more objectionable behaviour. Conan Doyle purists have made their objections known, of course, but they hadn’t banked on the unflappability of Ms Liu.

I first saw her in that era-defining late-90s series Ally McBeal, in which she played attorney Ling Woo. Much has been written about the tenor and tone of the character – whip smart, fierce, rude and a little too reliant on racial stereotype – but it was the one that pushed her into the mainstream. One Charlie’s Angels franchise, an unforgettable turn as O-ren Ishii in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill movies, and immortality on a Destiny’s Child song later, and here we are.

Liu is a New Yorker and this is apparent in her mannerisms. Her hands move a lot and her face has a thoughtful, intelligent quality. She’s been grafting for years, bit parts in TV shows and movies, as well as a career as a painter and visual artist (bet you didn’t know about that). And that’s why Liu is so interesting. She gives you everything you need to know, but not much else – a rare and welcome treat in today’s cultural milieu. She always seems ready. What for? Anything. I love that.