The character arc of Simu Liu
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 19 April 1989 in Harbin, China, to two engineers. Between then and now sit five years raised by his grandparents in a small apartment without running water for much of the day, an emigration to Canada to rejoin parents who were washing dishes to top up their scholarships, a childhood of algebra set as homework, an accountancy job at Deloitte, a redundancy in April 2012 after nine months, a decision to act instead, parents who stopped him visiting family in China, short films he made himself, a hundred dollars for a stock photo shoot, a sitcom in 2015, a reconciliation in 2016, and a superhero part he had asked for in public. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Drag along the line to move, pinch or use the buttons to look closer. Tap the line to pluck it, or any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Simu Liu?
He was a failed accountant at twenty three. He asked for the part in public.
His parents met studying engineering at university in Beijing. His father went to the United States for a doctorate and his mother worked in Beijing, and he was raised until he was five by his grandparents in Harbin, in a small apartment without running water for much of the day, in circumstances he has described as idyllic and happy. Then he was moved to Canada to live with parents he hardly knew, who were supplementing their scholarships with dish-washing jobs and who later became successful aerospace engineers. They hothoused him in maths from the age of five and set homework that included reading biographies of scientists and studying algebra.
He did what that upbringing pointed at. He took a degree, went to Deloitte as an accountant, and was laid off in April 2012 after nine months. He was twenty three. He has described himself from that point as a failed accountant with absolutely zero training or idea about how the business worked, and what he decided to do with that was act.
His parents did not take it well. Relations worsened to the point where they excluded him from visiting other family members in China. That break lasted until 2016, when a reconciliation began, and he did not go back to China for a family visit until 2025, fifteen years after the last one.
The work in between was unglamorous and self-generated. He started as an extra and a stuntman. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in his own short film in 2013. In 2014 he was paid a hundred dollars to model for a set of stock photographs that ended up in subway stations, storefronts and on textbook covers, and were still there when he became famous. In 2015 he was cast as Jung Kim in Kim's Convenience, which ran until 2021, and in 2018 he founded his own production company.
In December 2018, when a Marvel film was announced as being in development, he asked on Twitter about playing the lead. At Comic-Con the following July, Disney announced he had it. The film opened on 3 September 2021 as Marvel's first with an Asian-led cast, he was named one of the hundred most influential people in the world, and his memoir was published the following May.
The moments
Simu Liu's timeline.
The 1980s
Born in Harbin
Everyday. Two engineers, and a baby they would have to leave behind for a while.
The 1990s
Raised by his grandparents
Everyday, and it changed his direction. No running water, and he remembers it as happy.
He joins his parents in Canada
Milestone, and it changed everything. A new country, parents he barely knew, and algebra for homework.
The 2010s
An accountant at Deloitte
Milestone. The job the whole childhood had been pointing at.
Laid off after nine months
Setback, and it changed everything. Twenty three years old, and out of the career he was raised for.
Another finance job, or act
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: act, taken, or find another firm. He was announced as a Marvel lead seven years later, and reconciled with his parents in 2016.
He decides to act instead
Milestone, and it changed everything. No training, no contacts, and that is what he picked.
His parents shut him out
Setback, and it changed everything. The cost of the decision, charged to the family.
He makes his own short film
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Nobody was casting him, so he cast himself.
A hundred dollars for stock photos
Everyday. A hundred dollars, and his face on a textbook for years.
Kim's Convenience
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A first real part, three years after the redundancy.
He and his parents reconcile
Milestone, and it changed everything. The family repair, started from both ends.
A production company of his own
Milestone, and it changed his direction. From asking for parts to making them.
He asks for it on Twitter
Milestone, and it changed everything. A public question nobody had to answer.
Announced as Shang-Chi
Milestone, and it changed everything. Seven months after he asked, they said yes.
The 2020s
The film opens
Milestone, and it changed everything. Nine years after the redundancy, a franchise lead.
We Were Dreamers
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The immigrant story, written down by the person in it.
Barbie
Milestone. The biggest film of the year, and a single of his own.
Back in China, at last
Milestone, and it changed everything. Fifteen years, and then the door opens again.
A Broadway debut
Milestone, and it changed his direction. From extra work to a Broadway stage.
The stock photographs he was paid a hundred dollars for are still in circulation, and people now recognise the face in them. What he set moving is a record of the thing nobody wants on their line, a redundancy at twenty three, sitting exactly where the real career starts.
In his words
Quotes by Simu Liu
I've always had a bit of delusional confidence. I think it's the same delusional confidence I had when I first decided to become an actor as a 23-year-old failed accountant with absolutely zero training or idea about how the business worked.
What he wrote
Books by Simu Liu
- 2022
We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story
Published the year after the film. The childhood in Harbin, the parents he was sent to, and the redundancy.
Your turn
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His turns on being made redundant, which is usually drawn as the low point. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Simu Liu: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Simu Liu's character arc?
Was Simu Liu really an accountant?
Did Simu Liu ask for the Shang-Chi role on Twitter?
Why did Simu Liu fall out with his parents?
What are the Simu Liu stock photos?
Has Simu Liu written a book?
Where does this timeline of Simu Liu's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Simu Liu, English Wikipedia biography.
- His own memoir, We Were Dreamers, 2022, and his 2021 interview for the account of himself as a failed accountant.
- Release and award records for Kim's Convenience, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings on 3 September 2021, and Barbie.
- A set of forum comments he made anonymously in 2015 and addressed publicly in 2021 is deliberately not drawn here, as peripheral to this line.
- Liu, Interview Magazine, 16 June 2021.