Simu Liu Decries the ‘Backslide’ of Asian Representation in Hollywood

Simu Liu is speaking out about what he says is a decrease in Asian representation in Hollywood.

Liu, 36, responded to a post on Instagram Threads on Friday, Nov. 21 by a user who noted quotes from actors of Asian descent like Manny Jacinto, Daniel Dae Kim and John Cho, all of whom have expressed a lack of quality roles in recent years. “Put some asians in literally anything right now. the amount of backslide in our representation onscreen is f——- appalling,” Liu wrote. “Studios think we’re ‘risky.'”

He listed a number of popular movies that center on the Asian experience from recent years, including Minari, The Farewell, Past Lives, Everything Everywhere All at Once, Crazy Rich Asians and his own Marvel Cinematic Universe superhero movie Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and said that “every single one [was] a financial success.”

“No asian actor has ever lost a studio even close to 100 million dollars but a white dude will lose 200 million TWICE and roll right into the next tentpole lead,” Liu added in his post. “we’re fighting a deeply prejudiced system. and most days it SUCKS.”

One quote in the post Liu responded to featured Freakier Friday star Jacinto, 38, telling ScreenRant that he has largely received opportunities “for dad roles, or dad auditions” since playing a father (and Lindsay Lohan’s onscreen love interest) in this year’s Freaky Friday sequel.

Jacinto recently PEOPLE that prior to landing his breakout role on The Good Place, he was “living in a five-bedroom house with a bunch of nurses and just trying to make it work.” “Thank goodness for that show because I was able to buy groceries,” he said.

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Liu recently appeared on the big screen in the underwater thriller Last Breath. This year, he also lent his voice to multiple television series and the Netflix movie In Your Dreams, and he will star in a new Peacock series titled The Copenhagen Test that premieres Dec. 27. 

“It’s not lost on me how rare it is for someone like me to be given even a hypothetical opportunity to be the lead of something,” he told Entertainment Weekly in its Nov. 25 cover story about the show. “So whenever there’s a chance, I want people to know I’ve been intentional with the material.”

Moving forward, Liu will reprise his Marvel role as Shang-Chi in next year’s Avengers: Doomsday. There is also a sequel to The Ten Rings in development, though it’s unclear when the movie will begin filming.