Crystal Yu

Acting

Crystal Yu

Born 1988-10-30 · Hong Kong, China

Crystal Yu is a Hong Kong-British television, film and stage actress. She played Lily Chao on the British BBC medical drama Casualty from 2013 to 2017. Yu, born in Hong Kong, came to London at the age of 11 when she was offered a place at the Elmhurst School of Dance and Performing Arts (formerly known as Elmhurst Ballet School). As well as acting in theatre, films and TV, she gives up her spare time to work closely with The Royal Academy of Dance and The Jack Petchey Foundation, bringing dance programmes to secondary schools, Special Educational Needs schools and Pupil Referral Units. Yu is fluent in Cantonese, Mandarin and English. In 2016, Yu was nominated for the Female Actress of the Year honour at the BEAM Awards, an organisation that celebrates minority talent, for her role as Dr. Lily Chao. After four years in Casualty, Yu left the role and her final episode was broadcast on 4 November 2017. In 2022, she appeared in episodes of Doctor Who and Neil Gaiman's The Sandman. The following year, she appeared as Ms. Cheng in another Gaiman project, Good Omens.

Acting credits

Shanghai poster
6.1

An American man returns to a corrupt, Japanese-occupied Shanghai four months before Pearl Harbor and discovers his friend has been killed. While he unravels the mysteries of the death, he falls in love and discovers a much larger secret that his own government is hiding.

Shanghai

2010

Sunrise poster
5.5

When an ex-cop named Fallon returns to the scene of a horrific crime, the residents of a rural town soon discover that this dark visitor is really a vampire who feeds on blood and fear. After he is befriended by a kind immigrant family, the instinctive killer is faced with a choice between revenge and redemption.

Sunrise

2024

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby poster
6.3

Christmas brings the ultimate gift to Aldovia: a royal baby. But first, Queen Amber must help her family and kingdom by finding a missing peace treaty.

A Christmas Prince: The Royal Baby

2019

Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils poster
3.3

In a swashbuckling special adventure, the Doctor, Yaz and Dan come face to fin with one of the Doctor’s oldest adversaries, the Sea Devils. Why has legendary pirate queen Madam Ching come searching for a lost treasure? What terrifying forces lurk beneath the oceans of the 19th century? And did Yaz really have to dress Dan up as a pirate?

Doctor Who: Legend of the Sea Devils

2022

Deus poster
5.1

A mysterious black sphere is discovered in the orbit of Mars. The Achilles is sent to investigate. After the bedraggled six-person crew wake from eight months hibernation, the Sphere is transmitting a single word in every Earth language ever known - Deus.

Deus

2022

The One Note Man poster
6.7

A musical man lives a careful life. Each day is like the next, just how he likes it. One day, however, misfortune and fate collide, breaking his routine and rocking his world forever.

The One Note Man

2023

Dancing Through the Shadow poster
NR

This is a riveting narrative of the life of Tia Zhang, a young Chinese ballerina who came of age during the reign of Mao Zedong.

Dancing Through the Shadow

2021