[3] Lu was born in Beijing in 1927,[4] and was the adopted daughter of noted Chinese opera (Kunqu) performer Mei Lanfang.

[5] She attended St. John's University, Shanghai, however her studies were interrupted by the Chinese Civil War and she and her family moved to Taiwan.

During the 1958–59 television season, she had a recurring role as Miss Mandarin on the cult western show Yancy Derringer, set in New Orleans in 1868.

In 1960, she was the female lead in the antiwar film The Mountain Road, which starred James Stewart and which was based on the novel of the same name by the China war correspondent Theodore H. White.

She may be best known by English-speaking audiences for her roles in the 1988 TV miniseries Noble House, and the films The Last Emperor (1987), The Joy Luck Club (1993), and Crazy Rich Asians (2018).