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To say that 2018 was a seminal year for Awkwafina would be putting things mildly. Having only been known in certain comedy and music circles until then, she suddenly found herself in the limelight with not one, but two breakthrough movies – Ocean’s 8 and Crazy Rich Asians. Since then, she’s gone on to become a household name as an actor, creating her own TV show, Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, and starring in several blockbusters. Marvel’s Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon, in which she voiced Sisu, were among the quartet of movies she headlined last year.
Indeed, the talented 33-year-old is the very definition of a multi-hyphenate. Actor, comedian, rapper, writer – it seems that everything the New York City native touches turns to gold. But while her life may seem like a fairy tale today, it has been anything but easy&#8230;
Grandmotherly Love
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-65267" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-portrait.jpg" alt="akwafina portrait" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-portrait.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-portrait-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-portrait-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-portrait-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-portrait-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /> 
Nora Lum – to give the actress her birth name – was born on 2 June 1988 in New York as the sole child of Wally, a Chinese-American, and Tia, a South Korean painter. Tragically, her mum passed away when she was just four, leaving her father and his parents to raise her. If the story sounds familiar, that’s because it closely mirrors the life of her eponymous character in Awkwafina is Nora from Queens, the hit TV series she created for Comedy Central.
Like her fictional role, Nora spent her formative years in the New York borough, and was particularly close to her paternal grandmother. An early role model, the latter signed her up for singing lessons as a child without her father ever knowing. Speaking of this close relationship, the star explains: “My grandmother is everything to me. She taught me that Asian women are strong. They’re not meek orchard-dwelling figures.”
Losing Home
<figure id="attachment_65268" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-65268" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-65268" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-scene.jpg" alt="Awkwafina is Nora from Queens" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-scene.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-scene-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-scene-600x399.jpg 600w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-scene-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-scene-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-scene-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-scene-400x266.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-65268" class="wp-caption-text">Awkwafina in &#8216;Awkwafina is Nora from Queens&#8217;</figcaption></figure>
Her grandparents ran a Chinese restaurant in the Flushing area of Queens, but when it began to fail, they had to file for bankruptcy, losing the business as well as their home. At this point, the entire family was forced to move into a tiny apartment, with Lum sharing the sole bedroom with her grandparents until she turned 12. Recalling these troubled times, she notes: “I remember staying up with my grandma at night and asking her, ‘What is the only thing you wish for that you could have right now?’ And she said, ‘To pay the bills.’”
Troubled Teen
<figure id="attachment_65270" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-65270" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-65270" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-shang-chi.jpg" alt="akwafina shang chi" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-shang-chi.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-shang-chi-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-shang-chi-600x399.jpg 600w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-shang-chi-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-shang-chi-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-shang-chi-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-shang-chi-400x266.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-65270" class="wp-caption-text">Athe premiere of Shang-Chi&nbsp;and The Legend of The Ten Rings</figcaption></figure>
Having been diagnosed with attention deficit disorder (ADD) as well as depression during her teens, Nora was anything but an A-plus pupil. Despite being accepted into the prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School – an institution famed for churning out musical talents and thespians such as Al Pacino, Jennifer Aniston and Timothée Chalamet – she was, in her estimation, “a bad kid”. She says she would often skip class to drink or smoke with friends, and would always get caught. Thankfully, she managed to scrape together a C-minus average, eventually graduating and – after learning Mandarin in Beijing – making it to the University of Albany.
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Alter Ego
<figure id="attachment_65259" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-65259" style="width: 466px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-65259" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-HFPA.jpg" alt="akwafina Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy category" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-HFPA.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-HFPA-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-HFPA-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-HFPA-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-HFPA-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-65259" class="wp-caption-text">Awkwafina wins the Best Performance by an Actress in a Motion Picture: Musical or Comedy category at the Golden Globes</figcaption></figure>
Lum fell in love with music at an early age, learning to play the trumpet when she was in the fifth grade and training in both the jazz and classical traditions. However, it was rap that truly captivated her imagination. She began rapping when she was 13, often recording her own tunes into a boombox mixtape recorder, and three years later picked out her own stage name – Awkwafina.
It wasn’t until Nora was in college, however, that she would fully embrace Awkwafina as her alter ego. Having to temper and filter herself to fit the mould of a ‘proper’ university student, she used that outlandish persona to release the repressed side of her personality. “She’s the girl who’s high on sleepover energy, running around and dunking ice cream cones in her eyes,” shares Lum. “College was like prison reform where I learned to be quiet and more passive – so when Awkwafina comes out on stage, she’s that crazy high-school kid that doesn’t really care about anything. It’s an extra burst of confidence that Nora doesn’t have. There is a duality.”
Bad Rap
<figure id="attachment_65271" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-65271" style="width: 700px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-65271" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-oceans-8.jpg" alt="akwafina ocean's 8" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-oceans-8.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-oceans-8-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-oceans-8-600x399.jpg 600w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-oceans-8-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-oceans-8-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-oceans-8-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-oceans-8-400x266.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-65271" class="wp-caption-text">Awkwafina with co-stars Sarah Paulson, Sandra Bullock, Rihanna, and Cate Blanchett in Ocean&#8217;s 8</figcaption></figure>
Awkwafina may have been rapping and producing her own songs since her teenage years, but her first big break came in 2012 when My Vag became a viral hit on her YouTube channel. Her song’s success – it garnered over three million views – galvanised her into a frenzy of songwriting, and she followed it with the 12-track Yellow Ranger album in 2014, then In Fina We Trust in 2018. She was featured in the rap documentary Bad Rap, an exposé on four Asian-American hip-hop artists, which debuted at the 2016 Tribeca Film Festival.
Awkward Feelings
<figure id="attachment_65264" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-65264" style="width: 466px" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="size-full wp-image-65264" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-crazy-rich-asians.jpg" alt="Akwafina nora lum crazy rich asians" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-crazy-rich-asians.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-crazy-rich-asians-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-crazy-rich-asians-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-crazy-rich-asians-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/akwafina-crazy-rich-asians-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /><figcaption id="caption-attachment-65264" class="wp-caption-text">Dolled up for the premiere of Crazy Rich Asians</figcaption></figure>
Having long struggled with depression and her overall mental health, Awkwafina was not shielded from feelings of inadequacy and anxiety when she found fame. Indeed, she points to the summer of that seminal year – 2018 – as being particularly challenging. When Netflix film Dude, Ocean’s 8 and Crazy Rich Asians were released in a rapid five-month span, the sudden attention and scrutiny caused her to feel displaced.
“That summer, it was a lot of people being like, ‘Just enjoy, dude, just have fun, live in the moment,’” she recalls. “All this stuff started to come up. I wondered at a certain point, when everything in my life was amazing, why I felt so low and with no sense of identity.” Thankfully, she’s now adjusted to her celebrity status.
Farewell Arrival
<img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-65289" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Awkwafina_cropped_2-copy.jpg" alt="Awkwafina nora lum asian hollywood actress breaking barriers in entertainment" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Awkwafina_cropped_2-copy.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Awkwafina_cropped_2-copy-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Awkwafina_cropped_2-copy-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Awkwafina_cropped_2-copy-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/Awkwafina_cropped_2-copy-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" />
Not only has she successfully overcome stereotypes and mental health issues, she’s even made acting history. With her 2020 Golden Globe triumph, she became the first-ever performer of Asian descent to win in the Best Actress category (for her poignant portrayal of Billi in The Farewell).
So what’s next for Lum and her wildly successful alter ego? Well, next month sees the barrier-breaking talent lend her voice to animated film The Bad Guys as Ms Tarantula and then to the part of Scuttle the seagull in the 2023 live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid.
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<h6>(Text: Tenzing Thondup)</h6>

Awkwafina: The unexpected Hollywood star we didn’t know we need

The tide is rising in the Marvel multiverse, and there’s never been a more appropriate time to be a socially progressive fan of the superhero world.
Simu Liu, the 32-year-old Chinese-Canadian newbie actor of Kim’s Convenience fame, is shaking things at the white boys’ club. As the first Asian lead of a Marvel superhero film, he’s on the cusp of becoming the face of diversity, representing a population which isn’t all white, whilst carving out a permanent place for himself amongst Hollywood A-listers. 
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, due for release on 3 September, showcases a predominantly Asian cast, and pits superhero Shang-Chi (Simu Liu) against the terrorist group, Ten Rings, that was introduced in Iron Man. Social media sensation and Crazy Rich Asians’ actor Awkwafina also stars. 
We take a look at Liu’s rocky path to stardom, which mirrors the progress of the times.
<a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-4.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-60184" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-4.jpg" alt="celebrity simu liu shang chi marvel film marvel universe superhero hollywood gafencu-4" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-4.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-4-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-4-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-4-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-4-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /></a>
Canada Bound 
Born in Harbin in 1989, Liu was raised by his grandparents until the age of five. His parents had migrated to Ontario to complete their education at Queen’s University and “start a better life”. By 1995, they were financially secured for their son to join them, but the two generations of the family were complete strangers. In an open letter to his parents, Liu states, “I was excited to finally meet my real parents and start my life in Canada, but I had no recollection of you.” It was a period of resentment, tough adjustment and culture shock for the youngster. “We fought often… If I tripped on my laces, I was clumsy. If I scored below an A, I was stupid. If I wanted to hang out with my friends, I was wasting my time. I spoke dismissively about you, told you I hated you, and that I couldn’t wait to leave the house. But privately, I yearned for your love and affection.”
<a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-gradiation-with-parents.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-60179" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-gradiation-with-parents.jpg" alt="celebrity simu liu shang chi marvel film marvel universe superhero hollywood gafencu gradiation with parents" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-gradiation-with-parents.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-gradiation-with-parents-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-gradiation-with-parents-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-gradiation-with-parents-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-gradiation-with-parents-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-gradiation-with-parents-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-gradiation-with-parents-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /></a>
From Accounting to Acting 
Like most Asian families, Liu’s highly qualified, aerospace-engineer parents raised him to pursue a career in the sciences. Little did they know destiny had other plans. After graduating from Western Ontario’s Ivey Business School by the skin of his teeth, he got an accounting job with Deloitte in its downtown Toronto office. It was crash and burn from the word go. Liu hated crunching numbers, Deloitte was not a fan, and after nine months, he was laid off. “The first round of cuts, and I was right out,” he recalls.
Ashamed and embarrassed, he considered leaping from the balcony to avoid facing his high-achieving parents. But the thing about hitting rock bottom is that you can only go up. A pink slip motivated him to try something new – performing arts – and he was instantly drawn to the world of acting.
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More than a Stunt 
Liu’s leading man status has been hard-earned. He started out as a stunt artist; Hollywood expected an Asian man in the industry to know martial arts. As a side gig, he performed stunts at birthday parties for extra cash. Serendipitously, it was a Craigslist ad directed him to his first acting role – an extra “deep, deep in the background” in the 2013 sci-fi film, Pacific Rim.
The aspiring star has always showed drive. Not one to sit back and wait for the ideal role or the perfect opportunity, he grabbed whatever came his way and gave it his all – and that tactic has paid off, big time!
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Plea to Marvel 
The struggling actor was “handing out dog-food samples on the side of the road in Toronto” when he put out this 2014 tweet, “Hey @Marvel, great job with Cpt America and Thor. Now how about an Asian-American hero?” Seven years later, he has just become one. 
Unbeknownst to him, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, often criticised for its affinity with conventionally handsome white males, was internally rebooting to stay socially and politically relevant in the #MeToo age. It was gearing up to unveil a swathe of diverse superheroes. Shang Chi, with its momentous Asian casting, promises to be one of this year’s marquee blockbuster releases. Simu Liu as a Chinese superhero has not only deepened the conversation around race and representation – the step up is also being seen as a huge leap for Hollywood – one that marks progress over profits and doesn’t reduce diversity to an act of tokenism, a stunt or a sidekick.
<a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-6-2.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-60186" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-6-2.jpg" alt="celebrity simu liu shang chi marvel film marvel universe superhero hollywood gafencu-6 (2)" width="466" height="700" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-6-2.jpg 466w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-6-2-200x300.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-6-2-186x280.jpg 186w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-6-2-120x180.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-6-2-400x601.jpg 400w" sizes="(max-width: 466px) 100vw, 466px" /></a>
Happy Convenience 
Years of toil on the acting fringes paid off in 2016 with a role in critically acclaimed Canadian sitcom Kim’s Convenience, the show about the day-to-day happenings of a Korean immigrant family. Liu plays one of the central characters, Jung Kim, in this smash hit; it quickly drew an avid following and was one of the most watched comedies on Netflix in 2018. Ironically, the show runs parallel to his own life and immigrant story.
Umma (Jean Yoon) and Appa (Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) are mellow, easy-going folk, who gradually begin to see the world beyond the prejudices that surface with each new customer. Much like Liu’s own experiences, the children in the show – Janet and Jung – learn to appreciate their parents’ struggle, live through their idiosyncrasies and find love, care and support in their largely affectionless home. In the end, despite all the ups and downs, everyone pretty much gets along. Similarly, as Liu matured, he came to see the world through his parents’ eyes. His open letter is a tribute to them: “In hindsight, I know that you were doing the best. Money was always tight. And so you worked hard and often. You pushed me as hard as you could so that I would never have to know the struggle of not knowing where my next meal would come from.”
<a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-10.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-60188" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-10.jpg" alt="celebrity simu liu shang chi marvel film marvel universe superhero hollywood gafencu-10" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-10.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-10-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-10-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-10-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-10-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-10-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-10-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /></a>
Familiar Face 
With more than 30 film, TV and ad credits to his name, including Fresh Off The Boat, Orphan Black, Slasher and Bad Blood, the actor is increasingly popular on both the big and small screen. But you might recognise him from somewhere else. In 2014, during his dog-food promoting days, Liu did a photoshoot for iStock images for US$120 – a quick cash solution that he, at the time, didn’t realise would be splashed all over the internet – for countless job advertisements, bus posters and even as the cover of accounting books. “That stock photo shoot always finds a way to come back and haunt me. LOL”, he shares with his fans on Instagram.
<a href="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-1.jpg"><img decoding="async" loading="lazy" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-60181" src="//www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-1.jpg" alt="celebrity simu liu shang chi marvel film marvel universe superhero hollywood gafencu-1" width="700" height="466" srcset="https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-1.jpg 700w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-1-200x133.jpg 200w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-1-421x280.jpg 421w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-1-120x80.jpg 120w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-1-500x333.jpg 500w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-1-400x266.jpg 400w, https://www.gafencushop.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/celebrity-simu-liu-shang-chi-marvel-film-marvel-universe-superhero-hollywood-gafencu-1-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px" /></a>
Turning Point? 
The world in which we grew up could not imagine an Asian as the face of a Marvel movie. Representation matters when you have millions of eyeballs forming an image of what heroes look like. Simu Liu’s starring role sends a powerful message – that in 2021, race, gender and sexual orientation should not come in the way of being a hero. Hopefully, the tide will continue to rise from one studio to another until the day issues of diversity will no longer be magazine stories.
(Text: Nikita Mishra)
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