10 Actors Who Just Can't Seem To Realise Their Full Potential

3. Lucy Liu

In a recent interview with luxury fashion retailer Net-a-Porter, Lucy Liu expressed much of what we wanted to cover in this chapter. While the Asian-American actress holds a candle to some of the most celebrated actors, she is often typecast into roles that don't enable her to use every drop of talent she possesses. When asked about the types of roles she is usually offered, she explained, "I wish people wouldn't just see me as the Asian chick who beats everyone up, or the Asian girl with no emotion." There's no question that the film industry is in need of more strong, female leads, but not at the expense of acting talent such as Liu's; even though we love her portrayal of former assassin O-ren Ishii just as much as the next guy, Liu is not a one trick pony, so to speak. She has the capacity to bring real depth and development to her characters, but that's hard to do when the majority of said characters are written to be cold and unfeeling. Fortunately, in very recent years she has been allowed to stretch her acting muscles, most apparent in her role as Joan Watson in CBS' Sherlock Holmes adaptation, Elementary. To be able to see her play the more emotion-driven Watson to Johnny Lee Miller's Holmes is a welcome transition, and one that fits her perfectly. We're genuinely surprised that a bigger variety of characters isn't extended to Lucy Liu, and it's a fact that needs to be remedied before we can see any sort of jaw-dropping performance from the actress herself. Notable Roles: Kill Bill, Charlie's Angels, Elementary Next Heard In: The Pirate Fairy, Legend of the Neverbeast