This A-Profiler we bring you Julia Ling, a rising star who is currently playing Anna Wu on NBC's hit television show Chuck. Find out how this Chemical Engineering major from UCLA chose acting as a career and how reading Quantum Physics keeps her sane in Hollywood.

Your site URL:
www.julialing.com

Academically you were the model student with the 4.0 GPA and active in clubs and community service while in high school and majored in Chemical Engineering at UCLA. You have started your acting career within the last few years. How did you get started in acting? What did your parents think of your choice?
In searching for a fun and adventurous new extracurricular hobby, I joined a local talent school that taught teenage girls the basics of becoming a model and actress. At the end of the course, they held a showcase for the students.

That was my first real "audition" and a few agents from the audience called me in for an interview. By the end of the month, I signed with an agency and from there on, an acting career became very real.

I have been performing and absolutely LOVED the arts since I was a little girl, playing the piano, singing, dancing, story-telling. I had a great appreciation for artwork. I used to paint and keep a sketchbook. I wrote poems and stories. I played RPGs and got lost in my fantasy books.

I still remember the happiest moment of my life was dancing in front of a live audience on mother's day. There were many happy mothers out there, and the music I danced to was so ethereal, so graceful and beautiful. We don't get to experience much of that kind of beauty in the real world. I guess dancing was a way of liberation from the difficult life I had growing up.

Performing was also a fun relief from the challenges I faced as an engineering student and officer of way too many clubs. As if being an overachiever wasn't enough, the crazy nerd in me convinced me to participate in rigorous and restricted competitions like Academic Decathlon, Math Field Day, Architectural Bridge Building, Tennis, Swimming, Knowledge Bowl, etc. So whenever I had the chance to perform, I felt free as a bird.

I'm one of the lucky few in the world who just have the greatest parents ever. Ever since I was a little girl, they've always supported me and gave me guidance and advice as though I was an adult. Then they trusted me to make the right decisions.

They followed me through the coaster ride from pursuing neurosurgery to majoring in chemical biomedical engineering, and then to acting.. I feel so grateful and lucky every day that I get to spend with them.

Your birth name is Shel Wei. How did you decide to chose Julia Ling as your English name?
My name is spelled "Shelweir", with a silent "r" at the end. And is pronounced Shellway. My family and closest friends still call me that.

I love America and I wanted an American name. There were many other reasons why I wanted an American name. I'll credit those at school who had difficulty pronouncing my name...especially those poor substitute teachers who never got anybody's names right during roll-call.

How did I choose? Well, I went through several What-To-Name-Your-Baby books and asked my mother for her thoughts. I even had a dry-erase board to play my process of name-elimination games. In the end, I was down to Elizabeth and Julia, both sounded pretty to me, and I couldn't decide.

So I flipped a coin. Always make major life decisions by flipping a coin. That was the advice I got from "Life's Little Destruction Booklet," a gift from my brother. And it landed on the JULIA side. The rest is history.

Now you are on the NBC hit television show Chuck portraying Anna Wu, a goth-geek employee at an electronics store. Was it a long audition process to get the role? Has the cast been fun to work with? Can we expect to see more of Anna Wu in upcoming episodes?
I do hope we can see more of Anna Wu! (laughs) The audition process wasn't long at all. Patrick Rush and Todd Sherry called me in during casting for the pilot. The producers were in the room, and I was offered the job.

CHUCK has been the friendliest set to work on. Every single person on set is sweet and great to work with. No divas here. The cast and crew have wonderful personalities, and they stay down-to-earth all the time, despite any difficulties or long hours.

Have you ever gone through a goth phase in your own life? How would you classify your own personal style now?
Yes, I have actually. It lasted for a few months in high school. Good times.

I'd say my personal style now is full of life. I don't know how else to describe it. It's aggressively training during dance and martial arts practice, quietly meditating in the zen gardens. It's filled with laughter and being a dork carving pumpkins with my family on Halloween, singing along to Christmas songs at Disneyland, jumping in circles like an over-caffeinated bunny when the snow came down on Main Street.

It's wrapping my gifts to perfection, taking care to not get any fingerprints on the gift-wrap tape.

My style is adventurous in rock-climbing, horseback-riding, wine-tasting and traveling all around the world. It is warmth with my puppy and family as we read books curled up around the fireplace. It's learning all I can learn, keeping an open mind for new thoughts.

Sometimes, it's standing up for what I believe in. Sometimes, it's shooting guns, or playing Final Fantasy and Call of Duty. Sometimes it's laziness in front of an anime series, or scrubbing the bathroom sink and doing laundry to heavy metal or Celtic Woman.

Sometimes it's engaging in philosophical and scientific debates with my engineering friends. Sometimes, it's reaching out to those in need of help and doing what I can as a trained counselor to lift the painful load from another person's shoulders.

Not being satisfied with just acting, you've also been producing as well, correct? What projects are you currently working on that we can expect to see in the future? Are you interested in getting more into producing in the future?
Being an entrepreneur can be very intmidating, but also excites me. I believe it's a lot of fun despite the challenges. The possibilities are only limited to our imagination and willpower. I'm absolutely pursuing producing in the future.

What do you like to do in your spare time? Do you enjoy cooking? If so, what dish do you create that everybody asks for the recipe?
Five summers ago, I decided to embark on a journey to create the perfect chocolate chip cookie. My father and few other unfortunate men in my life were forced to be my guinea pigs for each new batch of cookies I had baked. Finally, I found the perfect recipe that I now brand, "Ling's Chocolate Chip Cookie." Very innovative name, I know.

What is your advice to other aspiring actresses and actors out there who are looking at a dream of acting while still going to school studying Engineering?
Don't forget your Grand Universal Theories and Fluid Dynamics. Don't ever bad-mouth the mean and spoiled actress-diva unless it's in binary code.

Don't take it too personally when you discover that your co-workers prefer Mac to Linux.

Read Quantum Physics to stay sane in Hollywood.

Finally, although there may be inexplicable reasons for deviation in science, sometimes Hollywood just doesn't make sense. Go with your gut instinct, stay diligent, eat sushi, and don't ever give up.

Any final words for your fans?
I LOVE YOU SOOOOOOOO MUCH!! Thank you for all your words of encouragement and support. They mean so much to me!

Photo Credit: Paul Robison Photography

Would you like to be featured on this site? Click here for more info.

This issue of A-Profiler is brought to you by Nelson Wong.
Special thanks to Julia Ling and Ken Jacobson.

Photos used with permission.
Copyright retained by original copyright holder(s).