Superheroes are known for dramatic transformations, and, it turns out, so are the actors who play them.
"Ten years ago to the day, I was lead into my managing partner's office at Deloitte and told that they were terminating my employment effective immediately," Simu Liu, a.k.a. Marvel's Shang-Chi, wrote in an April 12 Instagram post. "A lady from HR and a security guard escorted me back onto the floor in front of the entire open concept office. It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. Nobody moved, offered a whisper of encouragement or even looked in my direction. I fought back tears of humiliation, grabbed my things, and never looked back."
The post itself was a screenshot of one of his social media messages that said, "I owe my life to being let go from a career I hated. Accounting = not for me."
At the time of the layoff, though, Liu felt devastated. "Ten years ago I thought my life was over," he continued. "I had wasted countless time and money that my family had invested in me. Years of schooling, gifted programs, trying to live up to my parents' expectations. It all came crashing down in an instant."
Liu, 32, noted that he gets "really funny and introspective" every April 12 and said he is "REALLY in my feels" on the 10th anniversary. He then reflected on the "10,000 hours" argument author Malcolm Gladwell makes in his book Outliers, which states that it takes 10,000 hours of practice to become great at something.
"I know some of you have read Gladwell, and man was his prediction on point," Liu continued. "Ten years or 10,000 hours. My goodness, what an incredible journey it's been."
Looking back at his own path, he wrote, "I spent four of those years running around like a headless chicken trying to figure out how to break into the industry, struggling with credit card debt and taking any job I could. Another three years were spent trying to break into Hollywood, sinking my precious life savings into something many would call a pipe dream. It's really only been these past three years that anything I've done has begun to bear any fruit."
He then encouraged his followers to pursue their dreams. "I know luck has played a substantial role in my successes but I am sure that if I hadn't been cast in two life-changing roles, I'd still find purpose and meaning in the pursuit of success on my own terms. Not my parents' definition – MINE," Liu, who acted in the series Kim's Convenience from 2016 to 2021 and made history by starring as Marvel's first Asian superhero lead in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, added. "I don't know who needs to hear this right now, but no amount of money is worth compromising your vision for yourself. The pursuit of a dream- YOUR dream- against all odds… that's what life is all about. Happy April 12th, Instagram."
Oh, and he had a few words for his previous employer: "To Paul Gibbon and the offices of Deloitte Toronto; sincerely, honestly, THANK YOU. You did for me what I never had the courage to do myself; you destroyed a life that I was building for someone else, so that I could finally begin to build a life for me."
E! News has reached out to Deloitte for comment but has yet to hear back.