Chinese Canadian actor, Simu Liu (b. 1989) was raised in Harbin, China by his paternal grandparents while his parents were studying engineering in China.

The boy was 4 when he was taken by parents to join them in Canada.

He told People Magazine in 2022 that he had felt “completely safe” with his grandparents.

By contrast, in Canada he battled with his parents over cultural differences & what he describes as their “tiger parenting”. Photo by Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0

Simu Liu went on to study business administration at the University of Western Ontario. After working briefly as an accountant, he decided to pursue acting.

In 2015, Liu was cast in his first main role as Jung Kim in the CBC tv series Kim’s Convenience. He continued to star in the series until it concluded in 2021.

Simu Liu has won a number of awards & was named the winner of the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television Awards at the 11th Canadian Screen Awards.