Before 'Shang-Chi,' Simu Liu was a model for stock photos, and fans keep sharing them on Twitter

• Simu Liu once modeled for stock images before he landed the role of Shang-Chi.
• Fans have recently discovered the old pictures and are reacting on Twitter.
• As a stock photo model, Liu appeared in textbooks and advertisements all over the world.

Before becoming Marvel's first Asian superhero, Liu was a model for stock photos and has appeared in textbooks and advertisements all over the world.

The pictures can be found on Getty by using search words like "Cheerful East Asian coworker," "East Asian," "business person," "smiling," "cheerful," and "coworker."

Earlier this year, fans started finding the pictures and sharing their reactions on Twitter.

Liu spoke about some of the pictures he did on a May episode of "The Kelly Clarkson Show."

"I literally keep seeing it pop up, more so now because people are recognizing them and putting them online," he said. "I've been all around the world. I've traveled, I've been on like the front of stores, I've hung outside gyms, and been on the cover of textbooks. It's been really wild."

In August, Liu shared on Twitter that for at least one of the pictures going around on Twitter, he only got paid $120.

"Got paid 120 bucks and signed away all my rights to them because I was in credit card debt. Now they are everywhere," he wrote.

In 2020, Liu also spoke about his past as a stock image model on Twitter.

"Legitimately wondering if I am the greatest stock photo model of all time. Totally unrelated note, please stop buying these photos," he wrote.

Liu also commented on a photo of him on the cover of an accounting textbook in 2017. Before becoming an actor, Liu worked as an accountant at Deloitte.

"Call @Alanis Morissette because I just died from irony. I did a stock photo shoot in 2014 and it ended up here. I used to be an accountant," he wrote.