Yahoo Finance Shang-Chi 's Simu Liu Used to Model for Stock Pictures — and Fans Found Them!
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Simu Liu wasn't always a history-making Marvel star.
Prior to becoming the MCU's first AAPI superhero in the new film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, the 32-year-old actor was a model for stock images — and fans are having lots of fun unearthing the old pics on social media.
"thinking about when simu liu was a stock photo model," one wrote on Twitter alongside a series of photos showing Liu running board meetings and working on a laptop.
"You're cool, but not Simu Liu stock photos kinda cool," another added.
Liu has previously addressed his stock photo past on his own Twitter page, writing in February 2020, "Legitimately wondering if I am the greatest stock photo model of all time. Totally unrelated note, please stop buying these photos."
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Several years prior, the former accountant-turned actor commented on a photo of himself that aptly appeared on the front of an accounting textbook.
"Call @Alanis Morissette because I just died from irony. I did a stock photo shoot in 2014 and it ended up here. I used to be an accountant," the Kim's Convenience star tweeted in 2017.
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Liu addressed his stock photos again on Monday, getting in on the social media fun. Sharing a photo of himself pointing at a laptop screen, he wrote, "me laughing at the people who thought we'd flop."
Shang-Chi broke Labor Day weekend box office records, bringing in $71.4 million from Friday through Sunday alone, NPR reported.
Me laughing at the people who thought we’d flop pic.twitter.com/7UoLqRXlCJ
— Simu Liu (刘思慕) (@SimuLiu) September 6, 2021
In Shang-Chi, Liu makes his breakout performance as the titular character, a skilled martial artist who has been trained as an assassin since childhood. After leaving the Ten Rings organization to pursue a normal life in San Francisco, he's forced to confront his past once again.
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The blockbuster is making history as the first installment in the MCU with an Asian lead and a predominantly Asian cast. It's a welcome form of representation amid rising hate crimes against the AAPI community during the pandemic.
Liu previously spoke to PEOPLE about breaking barriers in the MCU and joining the Avengers. "I'm excited and I think for all of the good and the bad of what's to come, it's definitely a journey that I feel very privileged to be going on," he said in May.
"I know how much it would've meant to kids and to myself as a kid seeing this when I was younger. I totally understand the importance of it," Liu added. "I know that it's not going to be easy, but at the same time, I feel so incredibly excited to be a part of this movement that gets to push society forward... It gets to deepen the conversation, it gets to normalize seeing Asian faces on screen and hearing Asian voices and our stories."
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is now in theaters.
