We Were Dreamers: An Immigrant Superhero Origin Story

The star of Marvel’s first Asian superhero film, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, shares his own origin story of being a Chinese immigrant, battling cultural stereotypes and his own identity, becoming a TV star and landing the role of a lifetime.

In this honest, inspiring and relatable memoir, newly minted superhero Simu Liu chronicles his family’s journey from China to the bright lights of Hollywood with razor-sharp wit and humour. When Simu Liu’s parents move from China to America and then Canada, they leave him in the care of his grandparents.

When he is four, they bring him to Canada. Life as a Canuck, however, is not all that it was cracked up to be; Simu’s new guardians lack the gentle touch of his grandparents, resulting in harsh words and hurt feelings. His parents, on the other hand, find their new son emotionally distant and difficult to relate to—although they are bound by blood, they are separated by culture, language and values.

As Simu grows up, he plays the part of the pious child flawlessly—he gets straight A’s, wins national math competitions and makes his parents proud. But as time passes, he grows increasingly disillusioned with the path that has been laid out for him. Less than a year out of college, at the tender age of twenty-two, his life hits rock bottom when he is laid off from his first job as an accountant. Left to his own devices, and with nothing left to lose, Simu embarks on a journey that will take him far outside his comfort zone into the world of show business.

Through a swath of rejections and comical mishaps, Simu’s determination to carve out a path for himself leads him to not only succeed as an actor but also open the door to reconciling with his parents. We Were Dreamers is more than a celebrity memoir—it’s a story about growing up between cultures, finding your family and becoming the master of your own extraordinary circumstances.