Sewing Circle
This is an archaic term to describe the sapphic women in Hollywood. Yolonda Ross kissed Patrice Fisher in Stranger Inside (2001) and Jessica Leccia in Slippery Slope (2008). Elsewhere, she played Whitney Houston’s “intimate friend” in Whitney (2015). Besides the above event (i.e. on the eve of releasing Barcardi Big Apple), Yolonda Ross did an impromptu photo shoot with Bai Ling in The Beverly Hills Hotel on January 15, 2003. There was no context for it, so you would have to ask the photographer: Michael Caulfield. Both actresses never worked on any productions together.
Marla Sokoloff kissed Monika Schnarre in Love on the Side (2004), and played a lesbian in Freshman Orientation (2004). In the above photo, Marla is holding a guitar. In 2014, married lesbian Lauren Blitzer tweeted about how they met and hung out about 10 or 11 years prior at a fashion show in NYC. Her tweet went totally ignored, which is a sign of Marla being closeted. Kate Walsh kissed Sandra Oh in Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) and Carla Gugino in Karen Sisco (2003). If you think that was a fluke, forget about it because she also played a lesbian in Angels Crest (2011).
There are so many people who audition that the powers that be have to separate the wheat from the chaff by asking “Would you be okay with kissing another woman?” Nudity is a bit of a grey area since the standard responses from an actress would be either “No.” or “Only if it’s necessary to the story.” Standing next to Bai Ling might as well be a case of giving producers the A-OK so that they don’t have to ask that question, especially since the kindest way of referring to her profession is that she is an exhibitionist. Caitlyn Tyler Cole kissed Morgan Nagler in All I Want (2005).
I’m not saying that every gay-playing actress is gay in real life. You could get a straight actress who plays a lesbian in order hide what a homophobe that she is. For example, you can get an adult entertainer who would have sex with a black guy on screen but wouldn’t off screen i.e. she would only do it on screen because there is a strongly commercial incentive (and she doesn’t have to worry about being antagonized by a black man who sees white people as the opposition). In the above photo, Bai Ling and Caitlyn Tyler Cole were at the VIP reception during the 14th annual Diversity Awards Gala. This was held at the Century Plaza Hotel in Los Angeles.
Ornella Muti kissed Irene Papas in Oasis of Fear (1971), Senta Berger in Nest of Vipers (1978) and Hanna Schygulla in The Future is Woman (1984). Naturally, Ornella and Bai Ling acted in the same 1998 film - Somewhere in the City (for which they attended the New York City premiere at the Quad Cinema Complex). Ornella’s daughter, Naike Rivelli, is bisexual. In 1988, Ornella released a synth-pop single called Then There Was You. Since she married Federico Fachinetti in 1988, you could say that it was an example of serenade being compatible with serendipity. The serenity didn’t last long because they divorced in 1996.
From 2000 to 2004, Michelle Clunie played a lesbian in Queer as Folk. She kissed Thea Gill, Nancy Anne Sakovich and Angela Asher. Off screen, Michelle and Thea enjoyed feeling each other up. In the above photo, Michelle and Bai Ling attended a Vivendi Universal Games E3 kickoff party at Avalon Hollywood. Michelle’s life partner is a bisexual director - Bryan Singer. They are parents if not partners. Michelle is on friendly terms with the following bisexuals: Kelly Lynch, Jennifer Beals and Cynthia Nixon.
In June 2020, Nikki Blonsky came out as a lesbian. About the above photos, they were not taken in the U.S. They were taken in Toronto. Both women went from attending the Scavenger Cup at the BMW Toronto Dealership to attending The Winner's Circle gala dinner at Fairmont Royal York’s Concert Hall. I’ve seen enough photos of Bai Ling to know that she is not a chubby chaser, although I know that there has always been this connection between BBW and BBC (Bai has a thing for black guys).
On The Howard Stern Show, Paula Abdul tap-danced around the question of whether she is bisexual or not. At L.A. Pride in 2019, Paula claimed to love her lesbian fans. Whitney Houston was not one of her fans, but then they could have been rivals in love if Bai Ling could be seen as a sapphic Easter egg whose sole purpose in Hollywood is to silently out women just by standing next to them. Having said that, she never had her picture taken with Janet Jackson (who was once asked during a radio interview if she is bi).
In the above photo, Paula and Bai Ling were in Malaysia for the Force of Nature concert. At that exact point in time, they were at the Royal Palace to meet the king and queen for tea. The BET TV network had a black version of The L Word called A Luv Tale. Denyce Lawton was in this series that emerged in 2021, which makes her above photo with Bai Ling seem percipient if not clairvoyant. The setting of the photo was backstage at a presentation of Yves Castaldi’s collection during Mercedes Benz Fashion Week in Culver City. Denyce and Bai share two acquaintances - Phoebe Price and Andrea Bowen.
Tia Carrere kissed Lindy Booth in Dark Honeymoon (2008). In the below photo, Tia and Bai attended the 2004 Silver Spoon Hollywood Buffet. It was Day Two at some private estate. Jennia Fredrique kissed Shanika Warren-Markland in The Skinny (2012). She also acted in a black gay franchise called Noah’s Arc. In the below photo, Jennia and Bai attended Sue Wong’s Fall 2012 fashion show in Los Angeles. With black men, they say once you go black, you never go back. With black women, they say the blacker the berry, the sweeter the juice.
British film-maker Mike Figgis had put together interview transcripts for a 1999 book called Projections 10. When he interviewed Ming-Na Wen, she said: “It’s weird when – as happened to me at one audition – I was asked to wear a short skirt, I went in, and there was a room full of women. The casting director, the director, the writers – all women. And they wanted to see me in a short skirt. I think it’s all about sexiness. If it’s not physicality, it’s power. It’s about your connections, or the car you drive, or the designer outfit you’re wearing.”
She sure can pick them, especially when you look at the below publicity stunt that is best described as roulette fashion - a lesbian trademark. I wrote an article about this. Anyway, 2009 was when Ming-Na Wen played a lesbian in Stargate Universe. Not only did she attend the 13th GLAAD Awards in 2002, but she was seen holding Jessica Hecht’s left hand at the 7th ceremony in 1996. Jessica played a lesbian in Friends. Perhaps Maggie Cheung would have been seen with Bai Ling had her character not been removed from Inglourious Basterds (2009). Quentin Tarantino seriously needs to be put on the spot if not completely grilled (interrogration-style) about where the footage is.
Despite not succeeding with landing roles in Hollywood, Maggie Cheung was luckier than Ming-Na because she auditioned for what became Ashley Judd’s role in Michael Mann’s Heat. Maggie’s audition happened in December 1994. In Hong Kong, they had no auditions but Ming-Na was never able to break into the world of H.K. cinema despite the actresses who retired before and after 1997. Part of the problem was that, for a long time, H.K. films were not shot in sync-sound, so the vocal quality of the acting didn’t matter. The only drawback that would set you back would be if you couldn’t remember your lines or if you were wooden. Like in Hollywood, your ability to get cast depended on two things - if someone bigger was unavailable and which famous people that you’ve already worked with. As for martial artists and stuntmen, you didn’t need a showreel. If you were a newcomer, you could just perform on the spot (not everyone had their own video cameras).
Kelly Hu kissed Sherilyn Fenn in an episode of In Plain Sight (2009), and Ren King in BMF (2024). Kelly and Bai Ling have been photographed at five events. The above event was one which they presented - Spike TV’s second annual Video Game Awards at Barker Hangar in Santa Monica. The other events were the 2003 Maui Film Festival, 2004 Silver Spoon Hollywood Buffet, 2009 Rally For Kids With Cancer (in Miami) and 2009 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival. Both actresses were in the film that was being screened - Dim Sum Funeral. This features a Yuen Biao lookalike named Russell Wong. He had been in a surprising number of Hong Kong movies for someone who primarily worked in the West. His brother, Declan, was luckier. He appeared in two high-profile films in 1991 i.e. John Woo’s Once a Thief and Stephen Chow’s God of Gamblers III: Back to Shanghai.
Let’s get back to Maggie Cheung. She played a lesbian for Stanley Kwan's Full Moon in New York (1989). At a French fashion event in October 2009, she was seen holding hands with Joana Preiss. The latter kissed Isabelle Huppert in Ma Mère (2004). Maggie acted in a film, Clean (2004), with Beatrice Dalle. The latter kissed Anne Parillaud in À La Folie (1994). Isaac Julien, a film-maker, had met Maggie through two sapphic women - bisexual actress Tilda Swinton and lesbian film critic B. Ruby Rich. Jamie Lee Curtis kissed Michelle Yeoh at the 29th Screen Actors Guild Awards on February 26, 2023. Michelle starred alongside a bisexual actress, Sandra Ng, in a Wong Jing film called Holy Weapon (1993). Other examples of bi actresses in Hong Kong are Cherie Chung and Fennie Yuen. Wong Jing wanted Michelle and Fennie to play Kitty and Baby respectively in Naked Killer (1992). Jing also wanted Anita Mui to play Kitty, but she eventually made it up to him by playing a bisexual killer in Fight Back to School III (1993).
Like Naked Killer, the Stephen Chow threequel was a H.K. take on Basic Instinct (1992). One woman’s confidence bolsters another. Knowing that Brigitte Lin and Joey Wong were going to have lesbian kissing scenes in The East is Red (1993) gave confidence to the female participants of Naked Killer. Other examples of H.K. film actresses playing lesbians are Maria Tung in My Wife’s Lover (1992), Anita Yuen in Days of Being Dumb (1992), Rosamund Kwan in Gigolo and Whore II (1992), Cynthia Lam Ban-Gwan in Passionate Killing in the Dream (1992), Joyce Nga in Slave of the Sword (1993) and Ellen Chan in The Love That is Wrong (1993). The latter asked for the set to be cleared when she filmed her kissing scene. Not everything was rosy; Singapore censored films containing lesbian content. Carina Lau rejecting Naked Killer is interesting because she later played a lesbian in Intimates (1997).
It’s about time that Maggie Cheung reunited with Michelle Yeoh for a film. They say fingers crossed, but it should be legs crossed in this case. If the reunion happens, knock on wood would be an apt description when talking about a man’s wood.