Simu Liu

 Liu was born in Harbin, China, on 19 April 1989, son of Zhenning and Zheng Liu. The parents of Zheng and Zhenning were able for their parents to attend Beijing University, despite considerable competition. His father, Zhenning, went to America to pursue his PhD whilst his mother worked in Beijing, and Liu was reared until five by his parents in Harbin, China, "in tiny apartments, with no running water most of the day" which that he described as "idyllic and joyful" His parents then emigrated together with Liu to Canada in the early 1980s, and they supplemented their scholarship with jobs as dishwashers and eventually were successful aerospace engineers. Liu was raised in Mississauga, Ontario.In his memoir"We Were Dreamers, he wrote of the deprivation and trauma his parents had experienced growing as children during the midst of China's Cultural Revolution, and their subsequent "tiger parenting" style. He said he felt they "wanted to strip [his] of happiness or joy" and reminiscing "the weight of what he calls unrealistic expectations: 'to be the most famous child, the academic, studious and the respectful son'", being "belittled and physically punished" because of perceived failures. Liu's parents "hothoused him in maths at the age of five , and made him do homework, which included reading biographies of scientists and learning algebra". He was a student at the University of Toronto Schools for high school, and also studied business administration at the Ivey Business School at the University of Western Ontario, graduating with honours in 2011