Mississauga’s Marvel movie star Simu Liu will hoop it up at NBA All-Star Celebrity Game

If you’re trying to locate Mississauga native and Hollywood action movie star Simu Liu these days, it seems the best place to look is the latest high-profile public event.

Looking for a celebrity to be a contestant on a globally popular TV game show for charity?

The 33-year-old star of Marvel’s 2021 mega-hit Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is your man. 

In search of an engaging personality to host the Juno Awards in Canada?

Look no further than Liu, who hosted that event in 2022 and will do so again this year, on March 13 in Edmonton.

What’s that, you say? Disney World is looking for a celebrity narrator to tell a Christmas story to huge audiences who’ve travelled from afar for the annual EPCOT International Festival of the Holidays Candlelight Processional?

Again, sign Liu up for the occasion.

You get the picture. The Marvel Cinematic Universe star says no to very few, if any, requests to participate in high-profile events featuring people from all walks of life. 

The latest such event takes place on Friday, Feb. 17 when Liu will join a host of fellow actors, comedians, Grammy Award-winning musicians, athletes and others as participants in the Ruffles NBA All-Star Celebrity Game in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The star-studded spectacle is part of the NBA’s All-Star Game weekend and rosters for the celebrity contest were announced today (Feb. 8) by the NBA and ESPN.

Liu finds himself on Team Dwayne, to be captained (in an honorary way) by three-time NBA champ and Utah Jazz minority owner Dwayne Wade.

That collection of celebs and athletes will take on Team Ryan, for which Jazz team governor Ryan Smith will serve as honorary captain.

Among Liu’s teammates will be 11-time Major League Baseball all-star Albert Pujols and WWE superstar The Miz.

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Liu’s inclusion in the NBA celebrity game is just the latest in a lengthy series of honours and accomplishments that have come his way in the last couple of years.

Prior to his Disney World Christmas gig that also featured numerous other celebrities, he made a dramatic final-round comeback on Sept. 25 on Celebrity Jeopardy as the popular TV show returned for another season.

With the victory, the Mississauga movie star advanced to the semi-finals on Oct. 16, where he failed to advance.

Liu has also chalked up plenty of other recent success stories.

He was part of a popular annual feature on the cover of TIME magazine that hit the stands in late 2022 naming him one of the famous publication’s 100 most influential people of the year.

In December 2021, he won a pair of People’s Choice awards and hosted an episode of the iconic Saturday Night Live in New York City.

The Mississauga native, who took part in a celebrity baseball contest at the 2022 MLB All-Star game in Los Angeles, has also released his first book and learned in December 2021 that a sequel to Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings is in the works.

Liu, former star of CBC sitcom Kim’s Convenience, also received largely positive reviews for his charmingly “Canadian” onstage performance as one of the presenters at the Oscars last March 27.