Bai Ling is a Chinese-American actress known for her work in films such as The Crow, Red Corner and Wild Wild West, and in TV series such as Entourage and Lost. In 2011 she appeared in the fifth season of the VH1 reality television series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, which documented her recovery from alcohol addiction.

Bai Ling was born in Chengdu, in the Sichuan province of the Republic of China, on October 10, 1970. Her father was a music teacher, and her mother was a dancer and stage actress, but she was primarily raised by her grandmother after Ling's parents ran afoul of Chinese authorities during Cultural Revolution.

Bai Ling sang in her school choir as a child. At the age of 14, she was enlisted in the People's Liberation Army to served as an entertainer, singing and dancing for the troops for three years. Bai Ling clashed with authority and she found accused of insubordination for using tobacco and alcohol. She suffered from depression and was hospitalized.

Bai Ling found that she could express herself through acting so after her rocovery she joined a theater group in Beijing, where she appeared in traditional Chinese plays as well as dramas from the West. Soon she caught the eye of a number of progressive and traditional Chinese director and began receiving small roles in Chinese films. In 1988, Ling starred in Hu Guang (a.k.a. Arc Light), where she played a woman suffering from mental illness. The next year, she took part in the infamous Tiananmen Square protests, which further alienated her from the Chinese goverment. When she attended the film's screening at the Moscow Film Festival she was warned not to discuss political matters.

At age 21 Ling traveled to New York City to study at New York University's Department of Film and took classes at the Strasberg Institute. Bai Ling arrived in New York not knowing a word of English, but soon mastered the language through daily immersion