Marvel Studios’ latest big-screen offering, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, has quickly become one of the most critically acclaimed entries in the MCU. One of the most commonly lauded aspects of the movie is its cast. Simu Liu, Awkwafina, Tony Leung, and their co-stars have been widely praised for their performances.
Over the course of their careers, these actors have starred in some highly-rated movies on IMDb (not counting Shang-Chi itself, because it’s already the highest-rated movie of several cast members with its admirable 7.9 rating).
Simu Liu - Women Is Losers (6.5)
Like many Marvel stars, Simu Liu was a relative newcomer when he was cast to join the Avengers as Shang-Chi. He was best known for his supporting role in the sitcom Kim’s Convenience and didn’t have a lot of movie credits under his belt. Of course, after the success of Shang-Chi, that’s surely about to change.
At the moment, behind Shang-Chi itself, Liu’s highest-rated movie on IMDb is writer-director Lissette Feliciano’s feminist indie drama Women is Losers. Lorenza Izzo stars as Celina, a young woman in 1960s San Francisco determined to rise above poverty and secure a bright future for herself.
Awkwafina - The Farewell (7.6)
After rising to prominence as a comedic rapper on YouTube, Awkwafina has broken into movie stardom with roles in such hits as Ocean’s 8 and Crazy Rich Asians. Her role in Shang-Chi as the titular hero’s platonic female friend subverted the Marvel trope of a perfunctory romantic interest.
Awkwafina’s highest-rated movie on IMDb behind Shang-Chi is The Farewell, based on a real experience from writer-director Lulu Wang’s life. It revolves around a Chinese-American family that decides to keep their grandmother’s terminal illness a secret from her and arrange a wedding to gather everybody together before she passes on.
Tony Leung - Chungking Express (8.1)
Before being cast as the villainous Wenwu in Shang-Chi, Tony Leung had decades of experience as a legendary movie star. In addition to appearing in other action movies like Hero, Hard Boiled, and Infernal Affairs, Leung is known for his work with director Wong Kar-wai.
The Cannes Film Festival gave Leung a Best Actor award for his turn in Wong Kar-wai’s In the Mood for Love, which is tied for his highest-rated film on IMDb with the same director’s romantic crime drama Chungking Express.
Ben Kingsley - Schindler’s List (8.9)
Following the disappointment of the Mandarin fake-out in Iron Man 3, Ben Kingsley’s return as Trevor Slattery in Shang-Chi worked surprisingly well. Kingsley’s deadpan comedic deliveries helped to redeem the character responsible for one of the MCU’s most controversial plot twists.
Kingsley has been an icon of the big screen since he played Mahatma Gandhi in Richard Attenborough’s 1982 biopic. His highest-rated movie on IMDb is Steven Spielberg’s Holocaust drama Schindler’s List. He plays Itzhak Stern, the assistant who types up the titular list.
Yuen Wah - Kung Fu Hustle (7.7)
Yuen Wah gives a memorable supporting turn in Shang-Chi as Master Guang Bo, the tough but well-meaning Ta Lo elder who inspires Katy to become a battle-ready archer in record time. Wah’s career in action cinema goes back half a century to his work as a stuntman on classic Bruce Lee martial arts movies like Fist of Fury and Enter the Dragon.
His top-rated movie on IMDb is the action comedy Kung Fu Hustle, notable for its cartoonishly stylized violence – and for being one of the highest-grossing foreign-language films at the U.S. box office.
Florian Munteanu - Creed II (7.1)
The most memorable side villain in Shang-Chi is the masked Death Dealer, but a close second is Razor Fist, the Ten Rings assassin with a sword for an arm who attacks Shang-Chi on the bus. He was played by the strapping Florian Munteanu, a former heavyweight boxer who recently broke into acting.
His highest-rated role on IMDb behind Razor Fist is that of Viktor Drago in Creed II. Set years after Ivan Drago killed Apollo Creed in the ring in Rocky IV, Creed II revolves around a much-hyped boxing match between Drago’s son and Creed’s son.
Benedict Wong - Avengers: Endgame (8.4)
Benedict Wong’s supporting role in Shang-Chi – reprising his Master of the Mystic Arts character from Doctor Strange – resulted in some of the movie’s funniest moments, like the mid-credits karaoke. He was also responsible for one of the most memorable moments in his highest-rated movie on IMDb (and the biggest movie of all time), Avengers: Endgame.
After opening up a bunch of portals to let all the superheroes from across the universe onto the battlefield to join Steve Rogers in facing down Thanos, Strange asks Wong, “Is that everyone?” and Wong dryly quips, “What, you wanted more?”
Michelle Yeoh - Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (7.8)
It was appropriate to cast Michelle Yeoh as the master martial artist who trains Shang-Chi ahead of the final battle, because Yeoh is an action movie legend owing to her roles in hits like Supercop and Fearless. Her top-rated movie on IMDb is Ang Lee’s groundbreaking wuxia masterpiece Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The beautiful fight choreography of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon – with fighters floating from tree to tree – was a huge influence on Wenwu’s fight with Ying Li in Shang-Chi.