The Important Meaning Shrimp Crackers Have To Shang-Chi's Simu Liu

While Simu Liu, star of "Shang-Chi" and the first Asian actor to have the lead role in a Marvel superhero movie, didn't exactly achieve overnight stardom, his story does have its Cinderfella-like aspects. A look at his IMDb resume shows that while he's been working pretty steadily since 2012, most of his roles have been minor ones, with perhaps his biggest gig prior to his Marvel movie role being the role of Jung on a Canadian TV series called "Kim's Convenience."

Now the 32-year-old star is one of Hollywood's hottest properties, and of course everyone wants to know all about him. Those of us who are focused on food are of course dying to hear exactly what he likes to eat, and in a recent GQ video he shared a few of his favorites. It seems he's very fond of Pocky, Japanese rice crackers, shredded squid, White Rabbit candy, and Vita lemon drink. His "personal favorite," however, is shrimp crackers, and he has an interesting anecdote about the time his chosen snack played a starring role in his life.

Once upon a time, as the story goes (via YouTube), Liu was sitting at home munching on a bag of his favorite snack when the phone rang. Liu says it was "an unknown number," and yet, instead of assuming it was some random telemarketer and letting it go straight to voicemail, he rolled the dice and picked up the call. Ok, maybe he had some inkling that the call was worth answering, since he noticed that the area code was Burbank, a city that's home to Disney's HQ. It's a good thing Liu took the call, since instead of a robo-voice trying to sell him a time share, he heard "Kevin Feige's voice on the other end telling me that I was going to be Shang-Chi." At this point, he says he "basically realized that my life was going to be changed forever."

And to think, this life-changing epiphany was all due to shrimp crackers! Well, maybe not, but still, there's little doubt that Liu will think of them as his lucky snack from this point on. He may even think back on these humble chips with nostalgia when he's riding in his limo dining on foie gras and caviar. Hmmm, wonder if shrimp crackers would work miracles for the rest of us? It's worth a try. After all, even if we don't all get starring movie roles, at least we'll enjoy a tasty, crunchy snack.