Simu Liu ( SEE-moo LEE-yoo; simplified Chinese: 刘思慕; traditional Chinese: 劉思慕; born 19 April 1989) is a Canadian actor. He rose to prominence by starring as Shang-Chi in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), a role which he will reprise in Avengers: Doomsday (2026), Avengers: Secret Wars (2027) and in the untitled Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings sequel.
Liu was born in Harbin, China, and raised in Ontario. He has also played Paul Xie in the Omni Television crime drama series Blood and Water—for which he was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award and an ACTRA Award—Jung Kim in the CBC Television sitcom Kim's Convenience (2016–2021), and one of the Ken dolls in the fantasy comedy film Barbie (2023). In 2022, Liu published the memoir We Were Dreamers and was named one of Time magazine's 100 most influential people in the world.
Early life
Liu was born in Harbin, Heilongjiang, China, on 19 April 1989. His parents met while attending university in Beijing, where they both studied engineering. His father, Zhenning Liu, went to the United States to study for a PhD while his mother, Zheng Liu, worked in Beijing, and Liu was raised until age five by his grandparents in Harbin "in a small apartment, without running water for much of the day", in circumstances he recalled as "idyllic and happy". Liu later emigrated to rejoin his parents in Canada, who supplemented their scholarships with dish-washing jobs and eventually became successful aerospace engineers. He first arrived in Kingston, Ontario, where his father was fulfilling his doctoral studies at Queen's University. Liu was later raised in Mississauga, Ontario.
In his memoir, We Were Dreamers, Liu wrote of the deprivation and trauma his parents had experienced growing up in the Cultural Revolution, and their subsequent "tiger parenting" style, saying he felt they "wanted to rid [his] life of joy or happiness", and recalling "the weight of what he describes as impossible expectations, to be the star child, the studious academic, the obedient son", being "belittled and physically punished" for perceived failings. Liu's parents "hothoused him in maths at the age of five and set 'homework' that included reading biographies of scientists and studying algebra". Upon his arrival in Kingston, Liu attended Sydenham Public School. He later attended University of Toronto Schools and studied business administration at the University of Western Ontario's Ivey Business School.
Liu initially worked as an accountant at Deloitte but was laid off in April 2012 after nine months. He began to explore other career options and decided to pursue a career as an actor and stuntman. Familial relations worsened after he chose to pursue acting, with his parents excluding him from visiting other family members in China. In 2016, Liu and his parents began a successful reconciliation process, and he returned to China for a family visit nine years later, marking the first instance of such a visit since 2010.
Career
2012–2018: Early work and television roles
Liu got his start in acting working as an extra and stuntman, appearing in movies and music videos such as Guillermo del Toro's Pacific Rim and Avicii's "I Could Be the One." His other early onscreen credits include Nikita (2012) and Beauty and the Beast (2014). He appeared as a stuntman in Sick: Survive the Night (2012) and the TV miniseries Heroes Reborn.
In 2015, Liu was cast in his first significant recurring role, appearing as a series regular in seven episodes of the Omni Television crime drama series Blood and Water (2015–2016). He would later receive his first award nominations for this role at the ACTRA Awards and Canadian Screen Awards in 2017.
Later in 2015, Liu was cast in his first main role as Jung Kim in the CBC Television sitcom Kim's Convenience, a TV adaptation of the play of the same name. It remains his most notable television success to date, with the series being nominated for and winning multiple awards internationally, including Best Comedy Series at the 2018 Canadian Screen Awards and "Most Popular Foreign Drama" at the 2019 Seoul International Drama Awards. Liu starred in the series until its conclusion in 2021.
In 2016, Liu was cast in a recurring role 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. Even as he was cast in main and recurring roles, Liu continued to appear as an extra on several television shows, appearing in an episode of the hit BBC-Space series Orphan Black as well as in the Canadian science fiction series Dark Matter. In 2017, Liu appeared in the second season of Slasher as well as the CityTV miniseries Bad Blood, both as recurring characters. In 2018, he appeared in the science fiction television series The Expanse and Wong Fu Productions' YouTube series Yappie.
2019–present: Recent work and Marvel Cinematic Universe
In early 2019, Liu guest-starred in the 100th episode of ABC's Fresh Off the Boat as a noodle vendor named Willie. He also guest-starred in an episode of the TV series Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens as Garbage Boy.
At Comic-Con 2019, Disney announced that Liu would play the titular superhero Shang-Chi in the film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, which is set in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is Marvel's first film with an Asian-led cast. Liu had asked about playing the role on Twitter in December 2018 when the movie was revealed to be in development. After several production and release delays due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was released in theaters on 3 September 2021, garnering positive critical reception and achieving commercial success. A sequel is planned. He reprised his role as the titular character in season three of the Disney+ series What If...? (2024) and the television series Marvel Zombies (2025). He’s set to return to the role in the upcoming MCU films Avengers: Doomsday (2026) and Avengers: Secret Wars (2027).
In September 2021, it was revealed that Liu will lead the English-language voice cast of Bright: Samurai Soul, a Netflix anime film which premiered on 12 October. In February 2022, Liu joined the cast of Greta Gerwig's Barbie film, as well as the thriller film Hello Stranger directed by April Mullen, which eventually became Simulant. Both films were released in 2023, with the former garnering acclaim and breaking box office records.
Both Liu and NBA player Jeremy Lin had guest appearances as caricaturized versions of themselves in Malaysian comedian Ronny Chieng's Netflix short Ronny Chieng Takes Chinatown (2022). In December 2022, Liu was a guest narrator at Disney's Candlelight Processional. On 7 April 2023, Liu released his debut single, titled "Don't". He was a guest dragon in season 19 of the Canadian reality series Dragons' Den.
In January 2025, Liu announced on Twitter that he was working to make a live action adaptation of Sleeping Dogs after a previous version starring Donnie Yen had been canceled. Shortly afterwards, it was reported that the film had entered pre-production with Liu expected to replace Yen as well as produce.
He’s set to make his Broadway debut from February to April 2026 in Oh, Mary! as Mary’s Teacher replacing Cheyenne Jackson in the role at the Lyceum Theatre.
Other work and public image
In 2014, Liu was paid $100 to model for a set of stock photos for FatCamera; the photos appeared in subway stations, advertisements, storefronts, pamphlets, and textbook covers. The photos received widespread media coverage upon Liu's mainstream acting breakthrough in 2021.
Liu is also a filmmaker, producer, and writer. Liu's first work in this area was Open Gym, a short film he wrote, directed, produced, and starred in that debuted at the 2013 Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. He has directed, produced, and written…