Her mother, Chen Binbin (陈彬彬), was a dancer, stage actress, and literature teacher at Sichuan University; Bai's maternal grandfather was a military officer of the Kuomintang army, thus was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution.

In 1978, after graduating from high school, she passed the People's Liberation Army's exams, and became an artist soldier in Nyingchi Prefecture, Tibet.

Bai later stated that during her time in Tibet, other female performers and she were regularly plied with alcohol and sexually abused by older male officers, including one instance of rape that led to a pregnancy she aborted.

In 1991, Bai moved to the United States, where she appeared in a number of American films and television shows including the legendary soap opera Guiding Light alongside actress Melina Kanakaredes.

Bai's first major American film role was in The Crow (1994), where she played the half sister and lover of the main villain, Top Dollar.

[5] For her role in Red Corner, she received the National Board of Review Freedom for Breakthrough Female Performance and the San Diego Film Critics Society Award for Best Actress.

[6] The film was critical of human rights abuse in China, and as a result, Bai Ling's Chinese citizenship was revoked.

She filmed scenes for Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) as Senator Bana Breemu, but her role was cut during editing.

In 2004, Bai made a comeback to Chinese cinema, co-starring with Hong Kong actress Miriam Yeung in independent filmmaker Fruit Chan's horror thriller Dumplings.

In the same year, she also received critical acclaim for her performance in another independent movie, The Beautiful Country, co-starring Nick Nolte, and directed by Hans Petter Moland.

In late 2014, Bai starred alongside David Arquette in The Key, Jefery Levy's adaptation of the novel by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki.

[10] Bai stated it was an "emotionally crazy" day due to the breakup of a relationship,[11] and was ordered to pay a fine and penalties after pleading guilty in March 2008 to disturbing the peace.

[13] In 2011, she appeared in the fifth season of the VH1 reality television series Celebrity Rehab with Dr. Drew, which documented her recovery from alcohol addiction.