Michelle Krusiec
A versatile Chinese-American actor well-versed in both comedic and dramatic performance, Michelle Krusiec earned widespread praise for her role in the Alice Wu-directed indie comedy-drama "Saving Face." Raised by adoptive parents in Virginia Beach, Virginia, Krusiec immersed herself in acting from an early age, enrolling in a drama program at a prestigious arts-oriented magnet school. After honing her talents at Virginia Tech and Oxford University, Krusiec earned her first commercial TV job as the host of the Discovery Channel's "Travelers." She went on to play comic characters on the Saturday morning sitcom "One World" (as part of a multi-ethnic household) and the spoofy teen drama "Popular" (as exchange student Exquisite Woo), and had a recurring role on the Emmy-nominated sitcom "Titus." But it was her dramatic turn as a gay Chinese-American surgeon caught between two cultures in 2004's "Saving Face" that brought her to the attention of film critics and earned her a Best Actress nomination at the 2005 Golden Horse Awards (Taiwan's equivalent of the Academy Awards).