It’s a long way by anyone’s standards from the People’s Republic of China to Hugh Hefner’s Playboy magazine, but if anyone could do it, Bai Ling could!

Born in China in October 1966, Bai (which means White) was one of three children born to a mother who’s career as a dancer and who’s father’s career was as a musician in the People’s Liberation Army, and later a music teacher, was destined for a life in the performing arts.

Bai has described herself as a very shy child who found that she best expressed herself through acting and performing and before long, she managed to pass the People’s Liberation Army’s exams, and became an “artist soldier” at Linzhi, Tibet. Her main activity there was entertaining in the musical theater. She also served shortly as an Army nurse. Three years later, she was discharged from the army.

In 1991 Bai moved to America to follow her ambition of becoming an actress which began with her role in the 1994 movie,  The Crow, playing the half-sister/lover of the main villain, Top Dollar and with Richard Gere in Red Corner in 1997, which was to be her break-out role in English film.

Being named one of People magazine’s “50 Most Beautiful People in the World” in 1998 led to her being called upon by Hef to pose for her pictorial in Playboy magazine in June 2005.

But, although that was considered quite the accolade in the budding young actresses career, it was to lead to the editing of her role as Senator Bana Breemu in Star Wars Episode III, when her part was left on the cutting room floor.

Director George Lucas denied this, stating that the cut had been made more than a year earlier. Her scenes were included in the “deleted scenes” feature of the DVD release.

None of the adverse publicity has had any effect on making Bai Ling a sought after Playboy model on the cover of June 2005’s issue of Playboy magazine.