Simu Liu reveals his family ties to AZ and why he wishes the Suns would get it together

Simu Liu, the Canadian actor, producer, writer and Marvel’s first Asian superhero, actually has roots in Arizona.

During a panel discussion at Phoenix Fan Fusion 2024 on Friday, May 25, Liu shared that his father did a semester at Arizona State University and lived in Tempe.

Liu did pronounce the name of the city as Tem-pay, and fans in the audience at the Phoenix Convention Center shouted corrections at him.

He uttered an expletive as he covered his face, then joked that he just lost all of his Phoenix fans.

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Why Arizona has 'a special place' in Simu Liu's heart

Liu said Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport was the first place his father set foot in America upon emigrating from China. He said his father vividly remembers living in Phoenix and Tempe.

“It has a special place in his heart and our collective family’s stories,” Liu said.

Liu said his father left ASU after one semester because he received a better scholarship from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario, Canada.

Liu is making his own memories in Phoenix: He had dinner with fellow Canadian actor Paul Sun-Hyung Lee — who also is set to appear at Fan Fusion — at Steak 44 restaurant on Thursday night. He said it was the first chance they have had to sit together and discuss how incredible it is to be at this point in their careers and lives.

Simu Liu on the Phoenix Suns: 'Come on, put the pieces together'

When asked who he would play a pickup game of basketball with if he could choose anyone, Liu started off by acknowledging the Phoenix Suns fans in the audience.

“You feel like they should be better than they are,” Liu said. “You’ve got Devin Booker, Bradley Beal and KD, come on, put the pieces together.”

In the end, he said he would choose Kevin Durant to be on his team for a two-on-two pickup game. He would want to play against Adam Sandler, who he said “wouldn’t intimidate me,” and George Clooney, who he heard hoops a lot, “but he might be past his prime.”

Liu gets teary-eyed reminiscing about his grandparents

Liu got emotional when a fan asked what he would say if he could talk to his yéye and nǎi nai, or paternal grandfather and grandmother, who are in the afterlife.

He said he would tell them he misses them and ask if they were proud of him. To which someone in the audience said, “They are proud of you.”

Liu started to tear up and talked about how his grandparents raised him while his dad was at ASU. They were a big part of his life and unfortunately died two weeks apart from one another during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Asian American representation in media was also a big topic of discussion. In addition to playing Shang-Chi, the first Asian Marvel superhero, Liu played a Ken in the 2023 blockbuster "Barbie" movie.

“Representation on screen today looks different than it did 20 or 30 years ago, and that’s something to celebrate for sure,” Liu said while acknowledging that a lot of change still needs to take place.

Reach the reporter at dina.kaur@arizonarepublic.com. Follow @dina_kaur on X, formerly known as Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Simu Liu reveals why AZ has a 'special place' in his family history