Simu Liu is stumped. It’s noticeable because the Canadian actor, best known for playing Marvel’s Shang-Chi, typically speaks briskly and persuasively. He takes natural ownership of a conversation, steering it like a salesman. I’ve mentioned that his new memoir, We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story, has a subtle theme of atonement to it – for how he’s mistreated girlfriends, how he accelerated his parents’ car straight into their garage door, how he once aspired to live like the stars of Entourage, the US comedy about famous scumbags who date supermodels. It made me wonder. Now that he’s 33 and stable, does Liu like who he once was?
“It’s very hard,” he whispers, eventually. “I don’t think I do. I was constantly aware of how I was being perceived. In my younger years, I was desperate for the admiration of others. Sometimes I would try to say or do things to capture people’s attention, but people would just roll their eyes. It would never work. It’s like being cool in high school. You either have it or you don’t and I most definitely did not. None of the pieces were falling where they should and I hated it. I was a sad kid.”
