What was it like breaking into acting and performing, having no past experience, no training, no family in the business? What kind of jobs did you get?

Yeah, thank you for saying that. I really had no idea what I was doing. And it was very much a trial by fire, like make every mistake in the book. And I guess where I was lucky too was it was around a time where I think these kind of very preliminary conversations about diversity were starting to happen. So I was an Asian actor in Toronto, Canada. So it was already a small market. I was thrown into my first few auditions right away. And my first role was a desk cop number one for this show called Nikita. And I had to speak with a Chinese accent. And in doing those kind of day player roles, I remember I did every accent in the book. I played a Japanese air traffic controller for the show called Mayday. And then it became very obvious to me that I needed to kind of deepen my skill set if I wanted to progress, right? You know, I took like Second City acting classes and improv. I took every single night acting class that was available to me in Toronto. Basically, any money that I made on the job, I put back into the business and then somehow wound up in a situation in 2016 where a sitcom called Kim's Convenience came along and I just happened to, you know, be in the right place at the right time.

Let's take a short break here, and then we'll talk some more. My guest is actor and writer Simu Liu. His films include Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings, and Barbie. His new film is called Last Breath. More after a break. This is Fresh Air. You've talked about this before, but I want to ask you about being hired to do stock photos. So, you know, if someone needs a photo of a diverse workplace or people working in an office at all, they could find a photo of you. What was was that a good job for you at the time? And why are those photos still out there?

Yeah, I wouldn't say it was a good job. I would say it was a job. I just kind of was doing everything that I could to pursue my dream and to fuel my passion. So one of those things was to be a stock photo model. And I'm sure I didn't realize the full consequences of my actions at the time. Of your hundred bucks. Of my hundred bucks. But I remember I paid a hundred bucks for a day of work and I show up and I've got all these different changes. I've actually showed up with all of my work outfits. So these were outfits that I actually wore to my job at Deloitte that obviously I wasn't wearing anymore because I wasn't an accountant. But, you know, I was like, oh, I think I could, I think I could accurately portray this like office environment, having lived it for a short time. So I showed up with all my work outfits. We did all these different poses and in the boardroom, I put on a suit, I pointed at computers and smiled at people and, and then I thought that would be it. Little did I know, the photos would actually do really well. And I've seen myself on billboards. I've seen myself on corporate, you know, websites. And I've seen myself on the cover of accounting textbooks. And so when you're a stock photo model, you basically sign away your rights to the images in perpetuity. And the stock photo company can basically take those images and just sell them over and over and over and over again. So, you know, I probably made that company like hundreds of thousands of dollars and have not seen a single penny. Because again, when you're a stock photo model, I think it's actually pretty exploitative. But, you know, you get paid your hundred bucks and then that's it. You sign a waiver and then that you relinquish any and all rights to those images. So let that be a warning to anybody who's considering pursuing a career in stock imagery. Be warned. Watch out. You will end up in random places and your friends will make fun of you endlessly for it.