Simu Liu is a Canadian-Chinese actor, writer, and stuntman. He is best known for his performance as Jung in the award-winning CBC Television sitcom Kim's Convenience. He will portray the superheroShang-Chi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, beginning with the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. He received nominations at the ACTRA Awards and Canadian Screen Awards for his work in Blood and Water.
Background
Liu was born in Harbin, and immigrated to Canada at the age of five. He was raised in Erin Mills, an area of Mississauga, Ontario. He attended University of Toronto Schools for high school. For post-secondary, Simu studied 2 years at The University of Western Ontario and 2 years studying finance and accounting at the Ivey Business School from which he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Honours Business Administration in the class of 2011. He worked as an accountant at Deloitte but was eventually laid off. He decided to explore other career options before deciding to pursue a career as an actor.
Career
Liu first got his start working as an extra on Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim. His early onscreen credits include Nikita and Beauty and the Beast. In 2015, he was a member of the Heroes Rebornstunt team, appearing in three episodes as a stunt double. He next appeared as a series regular in the OMNI Televisioncrime drama series Blood and Water, for which he received ACTRA and Canadian Screen Award nominations in 2017.In 2016, Liu was cast as the ex-CIA analyst Faaron, loosely modeled on real-life ex-analyst Rodney Faraon, in the NBC prequel series Taken based on the film franchise starring Liam Neeson. He also plays Jung in the CBCtelevision adaptation of the hit Canadian play Kim's Convenience. Later that year, Liu joined the cast of the hit BBC-Space series Orphan Black for its fifth and final season and was nominated for a Dora Mavor Moore Award in the Outstanding Ensemble category alongside his castmates in the Factory Theatre remount of the play Banana Boys. In 2017, Liu joined the cast of the second season of Slasher as well as the CityTV miniseries Bad Blood, both as recurring characters. The following year, he appeared in the science fiction television series The Expanse and the YouTube series Yappie. In early 2019, it was announced that Liu would be joining the cast of ABC's Fresh Off the Boat as a guest star. He ended up starring as a noodle vendor named Willie in the 100th episode of the series. At Comic-Con 2019, it was announced that he has been cast as the Marvel Comics superhero Shang-Chi in the upcoming filmShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings will be Marvel's first Asian-led film. Liu had previously petitioned for the role on Twitter back in December 2018 when the movie was revealed to be in development. Before his casting, Liu expressed interest in playing either Sunfire or Namor. Aside from his work performing onscreen, Liu is also a writer and filmmaker. Liu participated in the writing room for Blood and Water, during which he helped break the story for the show and wrote an episode for its second season. He also wrote an online piece for Maclean's magazine in December 2017 detailing his experiences growing up in an immigrant family. The article was later published in the magazine's January 2018 issue. As a filmmaker Liu has written, directed and produced short films which have screened and won awards in festivals across the US and Canada. His most recent short filmMeeting Mommy, which he wrote and produced with Tina Jung, was released in February 2018 on the Wong Fu Productions Youtube channel. The film amassed over 250,000 views in its first week. He is currently developing long-form projects under his 4:12 Entertainment banner.
Accolades
Liu was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award and an ACTRA Award in 2017 for his work in Blood and Water. He, along with his Kim's Convenience castmates, won the ACTRA Award for Outstanding Ensemble in 2017. Liu and his castmates were subsequently nominated for the same award in 2018 and 2019. Kim's Convenience also went on to win the award for Best Comedy Series at the 2018 Canadian Screen Awards. Liu was named one of Hello!'s 50 Most Beautiful Canadians and 25 Hottest Bachelors in 2017 and 2018.
