Michelle J. Krusiec ( ; born October 2, 1974) is an Taiwanese American actress.
Krusiec was born in Fallon, Nevada. She was raised by adoptive parents — her Taiwanese aunt and caucasian American uncle. Krusiec's big break through came when she was recruited to be one of six globetrotting travel reporters for the Discovery channel new series called Travelers. Along with Barbara Alvarez, Robin Kipp, Pearce Bunting, Patrick Michael, Foster Soloman, and later Lisa Clark, the show became an instant hit on the Discovery channel.
Krusiec played the eighteen year-old Molly O'Brien in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Time's Orphan". Krusiec is a Best Actress nominee in the Golden Horse Film Festival for her performance in a U.S. independent film Saving Face (2005). She plays a Chinese American lesbian juggling the demands of her girlfriend and widowed mother. She co-starred in the NBC Saturday morning sitcom One World and also played the role of Exquisite Woo on Popular. Currently, she plays Mei-Ling Hwa Darling, one of the Darling family's daughters-in-law in ABC's highly-publicized dramedy, Dirty Sexy Money.
At the age of 12, a talent agent scouted Michelle Krusiec in her hometown of Virginia Beach. She began formal training at the Virginia Governor's Magnet School for the Arts and graduated with a Theatre and English Degree from Virginia Tech University. She completed additional studies on scholarship at Oxford and then found herself globetrotting as the host of Travelers for the Discovery channel, visiting over 50 destinations around the world. Krusiec has graced films such as Sweet Home Alabama, Cursed, Daddy Day Care, and Duplex, but her uncanny performance in Alice Wu's feature Saving Face (Sony Classics) caught the attention of critics from numerous publications, including the Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Slate Magazine, NY Post, and Washington Post. Michelle's performance opposite Joan Chen garnered Krusiec a coveted Golden Horse nomination for Best Actress. Inarguably recognized as the "Chinese" Academy Award, the Golden Horse awards have recognized and established talents such as Joan Chen, Maggie Cheung and Gong Li. She is one of the first Asian American actors to be recognized by these prestigious awards. In television, Michelle has made over 30 guest appearances (not including her own NBC series) on primetime hits such as Grey's Anatomy, Weeds, Cold Case, Without a Trace, NCIS, Monk, E.R. and HBO's dark comedy The Mind of the Married Man. Krusiec's independent forays have premiered in festivals such as Sundance and the Toronto International film festival. In 2002, Michelle was invited to premiere her one-woman solo show, "Made in Taiwan," at the HBO Aspen Comedy festival. Hollywood Reporter named her one of the Top Ten Rising Stars. Recently, the Hollywood Reporter once again highlighted Michelle as part of their "Faces of Sundance" feature 2005.
