NEW YORK – More than 20 years ago, Hong Kong cinema legend Jackie Chan saw something in a young model-turned-actress named Maggie Q, and decided to sign her to his management company and train her to become an action star.

Now, the Asian-American performer is back in the spotlight with her first high-profile role in more than five years, headlining Ballard, an acclaimed police procedural series streaming on Prime Video.

And the 46-year-old says witnessing the ferocious work ethic of movie stars such as Chan and her Mission: Impossible III (2006) co-star Tom Cruise continues to shape her professionally today.

A spin-off of the cult Bosch crime shows (2014 to 2025), Ballard – which has a 100 per cent critics’ rating on review site Rotten Tomatoes – follows Renee Ballard (Q), a detective with a chip on her shoulder who takes over the cold case division at the Los Angeles police department.

At a recent screening in New York, Q – whose last major TV roles were the action thriller Nikita (2010 to 2013) and political drama Designated Survivor (2016 to 2019) – says it was an honour to portray a police detective.

The source material for the show, the Renee Ballard crime novels by best-selling American author Michael Connelly, were based on a real 30-year female police veteran whom Q spent time with on set every day.

“And there are so many qualities about her that I don’t possess, but was able to bring to Ballard – because as a detective, there’s a certain amount of not just patience but also fortitude,” says Q, whose full name is Margaret Quigley. Her Vietnamese mother and Irish-Polish American father met during the Vietnam War.