Marvel actor Simu Liu is a testament to how to pick yourself back up after a fall, even when picking yourself up takes a lot of time and hard work. The star of Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings shared his thoughts and feelings on Instagram yesterday to mark 10 years since he was fired from his accounting job at Deloitte. Liu wrote a mini-essay about what he went through after being fired and the difficulties he faced before he finally got to where he is.
Liu talks about the years he spent after losing his accounting job, “running around like a headless chicken trying to figure out how to break into the industry, struggling with credit card debt and taking any job [he] could.” What also seems to have played a strong role in this journey for Liu is the expectation of his parents, and the weight of his past academic achievement that he believed he let down, writing, “ten years ago I thought my life was over. I had wasted countless time and money that my family had invested in me. Years of schooling, gifted programs, trying to live up to my parents’ expectations. It all came crashing down in an instant.”
The Chinese Canadian actor’s first big role came from the comedic series Kim’s Convenience, a show about the misadventures of a Korean Canadian family running a convenience store. His true breakthrough though came when he was cast as Marvel superhero Shang-Chi, in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the first MCU film featuring an Asian lead. Liu may have well manifested the role after he sent out a tweet directed at Marvel, though Marvel Studios boss, Kevin Feige, states he only saw the tweet after Liu got the role.
Liu is not the first actor, nor will he be the last, that goes through these difficulties on the road to working as a full-time actor. Luckily, it seems to have worked out for him and the Marvel star now has more upcoming projects to come.
Liu is cast alongside Margot Robbie, Emma Mackey and Ryan Gosling in the upcoming 2023 Barbie movie, and of course, he will return to the MCU to continue playing the martial arts superhero Shang-Chi.
You can watch Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on Disney Plus now.