Simu Liu is one of the biggest Asian actors working in Hollywood today. He has one of the most high-profile characters in Shang-Chi, Marvel’s martial arts hero, who is set to return to the big screen later this year as part of the cast of Avengers: Doomsday. He was also part of one of the biggest box office hits in recent years with Barbie.
One of those movies was certainly a starring role, and the other was a much smaller supporting part where Liu wasn’t the focus, so one might think that he views one role as more important for his own career and Asian representation more broadly. However, the actor tells Style both roles were equally important to him because they showed the two different ways minority representation in film should be handled, he explained…
Shang-Chi and Barbie illustrate the two halves of what successful representation can and should be. On one hand, something Asian with a capital ‘A’, leaning into our stories, culture and customs. Then Barbie is this idea of acceptance: ‘You’re one of us. We just see a human being and we relate to each other the same no matter what.’
While having Simu Liu star in a major superhero blockbuster from Marvel, and telling the sort of story that we rarely see on screen, broke barriers -- barriers that needed breaking -- the other side of representation is simply casting Asian actors for roles where race doesn’t need to be a factor. Casting actors like Simu Liu and Ncuti Gatwa in Barbie was simply about the fact that a character inspired by a doll didn’t need to look a certain way.
One might assume that using a multicultural cast of Kens in Barbie was an intentional decision, but Liu indicates that it wasn’t the case. He admits that he only auditioned for Barbie because he wanted to work with director Greta Gerwig, and while he might not have been the star of that movie, the fact that he was there was still important. Liu continued…
It’s the only audition I’ve done since Shang-Chi [and I did it] because they told me Greta Gerwig was directing it. I can’t remember the last Asian Ken doll ever made, but to be given the opportunity to stand more or less toe-to-toe with someone like Ryan Gosling – that, I can guarantee you, wasn’t in the script.
The fact that Simu Liu has taken such huge steps for Asian representation is great. Now we just need to see some others join him. Until then, it is wonderful that we’ll finally get to see him in the MCU again when Shang-Chi appears in Avengers: Doomsday. And then hopefully we can get that long-awaited Shang-Chi sequel off the ground.
