Simu Liu

“I think it is so important to have voices in the decision-making process that are sensitive to the groups that your show or your production represents. In the case of 'Kim's Convenience,' that was Korean Canadians, that was East Asian Canadians, and we rightly felt like we didn't have that voice in the writers' room or at the creators' table.”

“It was an extreme pleasure to be a part of the MCU, and if and when the call comes for me to return to the universe, I will be more than ready.”

“The truth is that Asian people have been targeted and discriminated against for far, far longer than COVID has been around.”

“Asian men specifically have not been portrayed as the leading man or sex symbol.”

“Was I a Jackie Chan-level martial arts master? Absolutely not! Not by any stretch of the imagination. I'm an actor. I'm a performer.”

“You know, it's not every day that you get to lead an MCU movie.”

“I was a dress-up Spider-Man for kids' birthday parties for a while.”

“The main character is always, you know, this blond-haired, blue-eyed guy who's the high school quarterback or the star of the basketball team. That's all I wanted to be, really, truly. I definitely was not that.”

“I spent the better part of my young life searching for people's approval and validation, and not getting any of it.”

“It's every immigrant child's dream to tell your parents they don't have to work anymore.”

“As an actor of color, I was overlooked at every possible opportunity. I was given roles that were almost not roles. It was, like, Scared Asian Guy. Whether I was a scared Asian guy in front of a computer or a scared Asian guy getting robbed in the grocery store, I always played these pathetic, low-status characters.”

“I was 22 years old, actually, incidentally had just been laid off from my job and I had a dog. My parents just didn't understand any of it.”

“I think so often we have these ambitions or these hopes within us that we kill before we ever let it escape our lips because we are afraid.”

“I'm a big Taika fan, even before he did 'Ragnarok.'”

“I studied finance and accounting in college, and I worked at a massive accounting firm out of graduation.”

“If it's true that I wouldn't have had a career if it weren't for these conversations about diversity, the importance of representation, then I need to continue to fight that battle for the people that come after me.”

“We saw David Carradine, who is not of Asian descent, playing an Asian man on the show 'Kung Fu' that originally should have, and was developed for, Bruce Lee. To have that be the legacy that quote-unquote inspired 'Shang-Chi' in the beginning obviously doesn't put us off to a great start.”

“The immigrant experience is rarely depicted in mainstream media in a positive light, and for that very reason, 'Kim's Convenience' has a very special place in the hearts of countless fans globally - including mine.”

“Just because there's one Asian American superhero in the MCU, it does not by any means imply that our fight is finished right there.”

“All around me, I saw people who were taught by their parents, as I was, to just toe the line, not ruffle the feathers, not rock the boat too much and just put your head down, do your work and that's it. And I think that as a community, we're reaching the limitations of that kind of thinking.”