Before Shang-Chi, Simu Liu Was a Birthday Party Spider-Man: ‘It Was Terrible’
These days, Simu Liu is a star, and he is getting used to the glare of the spotlight. But before he found his way to Hollywood, he had to find a way to survive financially. For a while, that meant playing a different kind of superhero.
Liu took on the role of Spider-Man, but not in the Marvel Cinematic Universe — at kids’ birthday parties. And it was just as terrible as you might expect.
Simu Liu went from accountant to Marvel superhero
According to The Guardian, years before Liu joined the MCU, he lived in Canada and worked as an accountant. But then Liu had a stroke of good luck. He was fired.
Naturally, this didn’t seem like good luck at the time. Liu said he felt “very guilty and very worthless.” But the sudden change in his life enabled him to try something new. Liu had dabbled in acting for a while, occasionally working as an extra on movie sets. But once he realized how unhappy he’d been in his old job, Liu decided to pursue acting seriously.
This led him to find work on Canadian TV, such as his role on the sitcom Kim’s Convenience. The parts Liu landed kept growing. In 2021, he got a life-changing role: The lead in the Marvel movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
But before he made it as a superhero, Liu had to make ends meet. And he did that by working as a superhero.
Birthday parties and Spider-Man
In an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live, Liu explained to guest host Sean Hayes how he ended up playing Spider-Man. After leaving work as an accountant, he had to earn money somehow while he tried to make it as an actor.
“I took on a number of side jobs,” Liu explained. “One of them, actually, kind of superhero related was I was a dress-up Spider-Man for kids’ birthday parties. So I did that for one summer.”
“As a prep for this role, sure,” Hayes responded, referring to Shang-Chi.
“Yeah,” Liu agreed, “it was like the same thing. I’d roll up to these, like, a six-year-old’s parties, and I would basically just get physically assaulted by them for an hour.”
According to him, the problem wasn’t his acting ability but the cheap costume he received. The children could tell he wasn’t really Spider-Man, and they didn’t seem to appreciate the dupe.
Simu Liu’s future in the Marvel Cinematic Universe
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was such a hit that Marvel quickly announced that there would be a sequel. Although there isn’t much information available about the next installment, Liu is confident that his MCU future is bright.
This summer, Marvel unveiled some projects they’re planning for the next few years as Phase 5 and Phase 6 are rolled out. Although there was no specific news about Shang-Chi, Liu made it clear he could picture his character easily fitting into some of the next big movies.
“I don’t want to jump the gun or anything,” he said, “but I feel like there might be room for me in a couple of those, wouldn’t you say? I was watching the presentation basically from Twitter and being like, ‘Oh, I’m gonna be busy. I’m gonna be busy the next few years.'”
Fans must be patient until Marvel decides what’s next for Shang-Chi. But it seems clear that of the two superhero roles he’s tried, Liu is eager to return to one of them.
