Once considered the worst day of his life, Simu Liu now celebrates every 12th of April as a reminder of his life’s hard work and how he pursued his dreams.
Like any other Marvel superhero, one can experience countless setbacks and frustrations, and question the direction of their life before realizing their potential. And for Shang-Chi star Simu Liu, his story may be beyond the cinematic universe, but it sure does prove that he is the superhero that we all need.
Most people didn’t know but before Simu Liu started breaking the barriers of Hollywood, he was once an employee at an accounting firm known as Deloitte in Toronto, busy fulfilling the life his parents has envisioned for him, but on the 12th of April, about ten years ago, Simu Liu was terminated from his employment. While fighting back the tears of humiliation, the actor walked to his office floor, grabbed his things, and never looked back.
Right there and then, the actor thought that his life was over, along with his parents’ dreams for him. He thought of the wasted time and money his family has invested in him by putting him in great schools and gifted programs, for him to have a successful professional career. At that moment, Liu felt as if it all came crashing down on him.
Today, Simu Liu now proudly shares this story. In an emotional and inspiring post in Subtle Asian Traits, a Facebook group with over 2 million members, the actor talks about his journey to success and where once a devastating moment in his life turned out to be the best thing that could ever happen to him.
As this marks the tenth year of the day where he bid farewell to his accounting career, Simu Liu couldn’t help but recall the bittersweet memories he has experienced as he battles his journey to the becoming star that he is today, “Ten years or 10,000 hours. My goodness, what an incredible journey it’s been. I spent four of those years running around like a headless chicken trying to figure out how to break into the industry, struggling with credit card debt, and taking any job I could.” the actor wrote.
Simu Liu also looked back to his humble beginnings as he tries to break into the Hollywood industry, which was definitely a long and difficult journey, and even referred to it as a pipe dream. The actor wrote, “Three years were spent trying to break into Hollywood, sinking my precious life savings into something many would call a pipe dream.” and further added how he knows he’s just starting to get a hold of the fruits of his hard work.
Admittedly, the actor knows that luck played an important role in the success of his acting career, but more so, he believes that even if he was never cast into his known huge roles, he will still be able to find his purpose and pursue what is right for him. Getting laid out led Simu Liu to finally start building a life that is not defined by his parents or anyone else, but only by him.
Simu Liu also reminded everyone to pursue their dreams, even against all odds because that’s what life is all about.
At the end of his post, the actor also gave special thanks to his former employers, Paul Gibbon, and the offices of Deloitte Toronto, for destroying a life that he was building for someone else, and even greeted everyone with a Happy April 12th.
Perhaps April 12th could be a Global Simu Liu day?
Simu Liu made history as he became the first Asian superhero lead in the Marvel Cinematic Universe for his role of Shang Chi.
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