OK @Marvel, are we gonna talk or what #ShangChi
— Simu Liu (@SimuLiu) December 3, 2018
The impact that Simu Liu has had on Kim's Convenience has spread around the world. Liu is cast as the first Asian lead in a Marvel film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
Liu has been through a whirlwind of screen test and casting just before Comic-Con in San Diego.
"I feel like I was kind of this social experiment," Liu said at Comic-Con. "Let's just take this guy, an ordinary guy, living in Toronto. Let's tell him he's going to be in the next Marvel movie and give him four days to prep for it.
Most of Liu's experience has been TV and Canadian television such as Orphan Black, Taken, and Blood and Water. While he did do a recent episode of the U.S. TV show Fresh Off the Boat, the impact Liu has made outside Canada was Kim's Convenience.
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Mena Massoud is a Canadian actor who was selected to be play the title role lead in the live adaption of Aladdin, released by Disney earlier this year. Massoud was born in Cairo, Egypt and grew up in Markham, ON. Liu left China at the age of 5 and was raised in Mississauga, ON.
The immigrant experience is above and beyond the leads in major motion pictures, but this does speak to the immigrant experience in Canada as a place to come where dreams can come true.
Would love to see Andrea Bang, who plays Janet, the sister of Liu's character Jung on Kim's Convenience, get parts in large films. Bang had a small role in an absolutely delightful Canadian film Adventures in Public School.
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Awkwafina and Tony Leung (who will play supervillain The Mandarin) will co-star in the film.
Kim's Convenience is available on CBC Gem in Canada and Netflix in the United States.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings has a scheduled release of February 2021.
Twitter capture: @SimuLiu
photo credit: Kim's Convenience/CBC
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