Welcome to Renegades, Gold House’s editorial series spotlighting Asian Pacific leaders and creatives who are carving their own paths and defying stereotypes along the way.

This week, we sat down with actor, singer, and investor Simu Liu. From playing the titular role of Shang-Chi to advocating for greater Asian representation in business, Simu has dedicated himself to expanding his horizons and broadening the conversation for our community. We sat down with him to discuss the common thread across his work, his dream collaborators, and his latest film, Last Breath, which adapts the real-life story of a serious saturation diving accident. Catch his newest film in theaters on February 28!

It’s clear you gravitate towards physically demanding roles, from martial arts in Shang-Chi, to dancing in Barbie, endurance racing in Arthur the King, and deep-sea diving in your upcoming film Last Breath. What draws you to these challenging roles and how do you prepare for portraying these types of characters?

Growing up, I was always a doer. I was much better learning in practice and in the world than in a classroom and a textbook, and I think a lot of my film choices reflect that aspect of my personality. I was always a really sporty, really athletic person—I hated sitting still and loved being out in the world and learning different things. I think it’s a big part of who I am, and I also think it’s such a gift for an actor, to be given an opportunity to immerse themselves in a world that they otherwise wouldn’t have had any exposure to.

For example, in the case of Arthur the King, I got to learn all about adventure racing and what that was. I got to train in all the various skills with some of the best people in the world at it, and Last Breath is very similar in that regard. I knew that training underwater would be a big part of preparation for the role, and I think that the types of roles—particularly for Finn’s character and my character—were so demanding that if there was even a shred of hesitancy, we wouldn’t have been the right actors for it. But thankfully, from the first day I got in the water with Finn, we both looked at each other and were like “This is perfect”, and the partnership and bond that we have will be perfect for mutually pushing each other to keep going.

We trained for many weeks in not just scuba diving but saturation diving, which uses very specialized equipment and in many ways is a lot more difficult. And it was an incredible experience that I think I’ll take with me for the rest of my life, in how unique it was.

Last Breath is a gripping survival thriller based on the true story of Chris Lemons, a deep-sea diver who was trapped hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface. How familiar were you with his story and what made you want to be part of this retelling?

I don’t think I had any awareness to the story or even the entire occupation of saturation diving before being sent the script, but after I read it and after I watched Alex’s documentary which was released in 2019, I was absolutely hooked. I think it was just so incredible to me that there were thousands of people around the world who chose to subject themselves to these conditions as a profession, and for many of them, they’ve been doing it for decades.

It’s a very old profession and requires a very, very particular type of person, and I just found that so endlessly fascinating. The more I learned, the more eager I was to do it. It was just such a fulfilling experience: to get to bring that documentary and Alex’s vision to life in a narrative capacity; and to get to play this really incredible character and be part of telling this really amazing story of human survival, perseverance, resilience, and camaraderie.

In the movie, you take on the role of David Yuasa – the outlier, hard-nosed, somewhat unfriendly member of the crew. How did you bring these distinct traits to life and did the film’s high-stakes environment help shape your expression of this personality?

I got to meet the real Dave before we started shooting. We were in prep, and that was an incredible insight into who he was as a person because I think he was written in a way that could be interpreted simply as unfriendly, but as always, there’s more to a person and more dimensionality to a person than can possibly fit on a page.

Dave, I felt, was a person of many multitudes and someone who was endlessly interesting and compelling to spend time with, and where I think some people would see unfriendliness, for me I see a suffer-no-fools, mission-focused, unsentimental, and very pragmatic way of thinking and living. And I really came to relate to that, even though at my core, I’m a lot more gregarious and boisterous and social. But Dave doesn’t need a whole lot, and in fact, I think the less that he has around him, the less distracted he feels.

And so not only does he not particularly care for the presence of people, I don’t think he particularly cares for the presence of anything. I think he’s somebody who loves existing in his own space and loves the unbothered quiet of a place like a sat chamber, where he can kind of escape from the world for a month at a time.

You’ve shared the screen in blockbuster films with stars like Mark Wahlberg, Jennifer Lopez, Margot Robbie, and Woody Harrelson. Looking ahead, is there a dream collaborator or type of project you’re excited to work on next?

I feel like there’s still a world of different roles, genres, and filmmakers that I’ve not even scratched, so I’m definitely excited for any and all of it. I’d say definitely at the top of the list is Denzel [Washington]. That’d be a dream co-star or just someone to meet and get to pick their brain for a moment. Denzel, Meryl Streep, [Robert] De Niro: just incredible actors that I grew up really admiring.

Bradley Cooper is really incredible—I used to watch old videos of him (Inside the Actors’ Studio), in the audience as a super young, eager guy trying to break into the industry. And then, to track his career growth and trajectory from that to having directed and starred in something like Maestro—which I thought was such a masterpiece in acting, preparation, and filmmaking—I mean, it’s just really an inspiration.

Lightning Round

Favorite Book: Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. I thought it was a beautifully written book about two incredible people whose lives are interwoven and set in the backdrop of independent video games, which is so cool and just a wonderful story.

First Movie You Remember Seeing in Theaters: The Lion King

Best Advice You’ve Ever Received: “Good things come to those who do.”

Comfort TV Show: Friends, Modern Family, New Girl

Go-To Theater Snack: Buttered Popcorn

Thank you for reading Renegades!