Shang Chi’s Actor Simu Liu Thanks Boss for Firing Him 10 Years Ago

By
Hannah Koh
-

Losing your job is quite possibly the worst nightmare for every worker.

But for Simu Liu, renowned for playing Shang-Chi, losing his accounting job a decade ago was the “best thing that ever happened” to him.

10 Year Anniversary of Getting Fired

On 12 April, Liu posted a screenshot of an old tweet on Instagram with a lengthy caption.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Simu Liu (刘思慕) (@simuliu)

The occasion?

The 10-year anniversary of getting fired from his accounting job at Deloitte Toronto.

Liu shared more details about the event that had changed the course of his life.

He wrote, “Ten years ago to the day, I was led into my managing partner’s office at Deloitte and told that they were terminating my employment effective immediately. A lady from HR and a security guard escorted me back onto the floor in front of the entire open concept office.

“It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Nobody moved, offered a whisper of encouragement or even looked in my direction. I fought back tears of humiliation, grabbed my things, and never looked back.”

Thought His Life Was Over

At the time, the actor who is now 32-years-old thought that his “life was over” and that he had “wasted countless time and money” invested in him by his family.

He shared that the weight of his years of schooling, gifted programs, and trying to live up to his parents’ expectations all “came crashing down in an instant”. Asian kids relate.

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Reflects on Incident Annually

Despite the devastating incident, the Shang-Chi star found a way to cope with the annual date—by getting “really funny and introspective”.

So for the ten-year mark, Liu decided to amp up his reflection on how the event had changed him.

Referencing Malcolm Gladwell’s rule which asserts that the key to achieving true expertise in any skill is to practice at least 10 000 hours or 10 years, Liu found the prediction held true for him.

He shared that he had spent four of the ten years “running around like a headless chicken”, trying to find out how to break into the industry whilst struggling with credit card debt and taking up any job he could.

Most well-known among the odd jobs the star had taken up was his stint as a stock image model which had shocked the Internet when his photos surfaced.

Successfully Broke into Hollywood

Liu then spent another three years and his precious life savings trying to break into Hollywood.

It was only in the last three years that his struggles and efforts finally began to “bear any fruit”.

Liu acknowledged that luck “played a substantial role” in his successes but maintained that he would have still found purpose and meaning on his own terms without the “two life-changing roles”.

His most prominent roles to date are Jung in the television series “Kim’s Convenience” and the titular hero in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)’s “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings”.

Chasing Dreams & Defining Success

Liu then emphasised the importance of chasing his own dream and defining success for himself.

He urged people that no amount of money is worth comprising one’s vision and finally encouraged everyone to pursue their own dream.

Finally, he ended off the post with a heartfelt thanks to Paul Gibbon, his boss from all those years ago.

“You destroyed a life that I was building for someone else, so that I could finally begin to build a life for me,” he wrote.

He also shared the Instagram post on his Twitter, quipping that it was the “best thing that ever happened” to him.

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Featured Image: Twitter (Simu Liu) + Instagram (simuliu)

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Hannah Koh
Email: [email protected]