TheUnforgettable Gala returned to the Beverly Hilton on Saturday, December 11for the 19th annual awards ceremony and celebration which recognizes the Asian and Pacific Islander leaders who have fought for a presence in the arts, entertainment and culture.Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Ringsstar Simu Liu was awarded with the Breakout in Film honor, using the platform to open up about Asian actors breaking barriers in films, being ‘‘unapologetically Asian" and how that is his real-life superpower.
“There are so many people here tonight fighting the good fight…showing me what it means to be unapologetically Asian… The more I think about it, the more it feels like a superpower." Liu went on to acknowledge all the Asian actors who have been “fighting this war for representation, for so much longer than I have.” He finished his speech by urging the Asian talents to “show the world how f**king cool it is to be Asian.”
Simu Liumade history after becoming the first Asian Marvel super hero to appear on screen when he played Xu Shang-Chi, a skilled martial artist who was trained at a young age to be an assassin by his father Wenwu but moves to San Francisco and changes his name to Shaun to live a normal life. Shang-Chi is forced to confront his past, however, when his father, the leader of the Ten Rings organization, draws Shang-Chi and his sister Xialing into a search for a mythical village. The movie, which was released nationwide on September 3 and also starsAwkwafina, Meng’er Zhang, Fala Chen, Florian Munteanu, Benedict Wong, Michelle Yeoh, Ben Kingsley, and Tony Leung, has gone onto become a critical and commercial hit, grossing $423 million worldwide.
Consistent with his speech at the Unforgettable Gala,Liu has used his platform to speak on issues affecting Asians in the 21st Century.In an opinion piece he contributed to Variety, published earlier this year, Liu stated:
“I worry a lot about my parents these days… According to Stop AAPI Hate, a website that tracks the violence, against Asian Americans, there were over 2,800 reported cases of racism and discrimination between March 19 and December 31 of last year.”
He has backed these sentiments up with personal experiences of discrimination he has encountered in his lifetime and believes that there is a lack of voices representing the Asian community in the United States.
Following his breakout role in theShang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,Simu Liu is slated to be appearing in the upcoming American romance filmOne True Loves, directed and produced by Andy Fickman, which is an adaptation of the 2016 novel of the same name by Taylor Jenkins Reid. No release date has been announced yet. In September 2021, it was also revealed that Liu will lead the English-language voice cast ofBright: Samurai Soul, a Netflix anime film which premiered on 12 October.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings was released on Disney Plus on July 27, 2025.
