Marvel star Simu Liu recalls trips to Mandarin buffets and growing up in Mississauga

In an event to honour the latest Walk of Fame inductees, Simu Liu praised Mississauga as his family’s happily ever after.

Liu was one of six inductees at the annual event at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga on Sunday. As the City of Mississauga celebrates 50 years, Legends Row selected six special citizens for the Walk of Fame.

The annual Legends Row ceremony celebrates the accomplishments of outstanding people connected to Mississauga. Inductees are born in or have spent a considerable part of their formative years in Mississauga or have made an outstanding contribution to the city.

Liu recalled when his parents decided to buy a home in Mississauga.

“I still remember the day that my parents showed me the blueprints of the house that they were going to buy,” Liu said. “It was a new residential development off of Winston Churchill Boulevard, which at the time was of course just miles and miles of dirt and farm. Our house was the smallest and cheapest model, it was less than 2,500 square feet, but in our eyes, it was practically a castle.”

He attended Thorn Lodge Public School and recalls playing in piano recitals at the Living Arts Centre.

“Never did well,” he said.

He also recalled how Mississauga was “just right.”

“You were never too far from a great party but traffic was never too bad that it made you want to tear your hair out,” he said. “You had Tim Hortons at every corner, but you had great pho at every other corner. And not one, but two Mandarin buffets in the city for a brilliant Sunday brunch feast.”

His grandparents were able to come over from China to live in Mississauga for the last 14 years of their life, and his parents worked at Honeywell.

“So for our immigrant family, our Mississauga was our happily ever after,” he said.

He ended by saying how happy he was to grow up in Mississauga.

“And I am so incredibly proud to call this place my home, and I’ve grown into a grownup among this collection of kind, generous, welcoming and culturally diverse families,” he said.

Inductees Jason Spezza, Gayle Borthwick, Pat Bullard, Amanda Cleghorn and John Roberts also spoke fondly of their days in Mississauga.

Retired NHL player Jason Spezza recalled his early days playing hockey at the Port Credit Memorial Arena.

“A six-year-old me thought Port Credit arena was the coolest rink in the world,” Spezza said. “It was so big, I thought, ‘This must be where the Leafs play.'”

He also joined the neighbourhood kids in nightly road hockey games.

Gayle Borthwick, who is among the golfing greats in the Canadian Golf Hall of Fame, talked about meeting her husband Bob Borthwick at the Commonwealth golf matches in Hamilton. After they married, the couple moved to Mississauga where they have lived for 55 years and raised their daughter Julie.

Borthwick said she was happy to accept the Legend’s Row award.

“This is a huge honour for me,” said Borthwick.

Stand-up comedian and award-winning television writer Pat Bullard talked about his days at Erindale Secondary School and his part time job at a shoe store in Square One.

“I love Mississauga,” Bullard said during his speech. “I come back whenever I can.”

Amanda Cleghorn, a world-class dancer, teacher, choreographer and actress who travelled the world dancing on stage with Taylor Swift in her Red Tour, said she is proud to be from Mississauga.

“Mississauga holds a special place in my heart, it is where I grew up and where I discovered my love for dance and performing,” Cleghorn told the crowd.

News anchor John Roberts grew up in Mississauga before it became a city, he said. He remembered a much more rural community and sneaking into apple orchards with his friends.

“When I was born there wasn’t even a Mississauga, it was the Township of Toronto,” Roberts said, adding that it wasn’t until his senior year at Erindale Secondary that the Mississauga became a city.

See the full ceremony here.