Asian stars featured in People magazine’s ‘Sexiest Man Alive’ 2021 issue

November 15, 2021

Simu Liu, Kumail Nanjiani and Bowen Yang are among the stars featured in People magazine’s 2021 “Sexiest Man Alive” issue.

Simu Liu: The “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” star recreated a childhood photo of himself holding a duck for the magazine.

According to People, Liu, who advocates for animal rescue, and his father cared for the ducklings they found on their front door in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada, when he was a child.
“I got to see the ducks coming out of their shells for the first time,” Liu told the magazine. “Since we were the first people — or creatures — that they had met, they thought that we were their mothers.”
“Everywhere we went, they kind of followed us. We would play with them in the backyard and they would watch TV with me on my head. They would just love kind of climbing all over my body. It was the best!” Liu added.
Liu also adopted a dog named Chopa during one of his film shoots in the Dominican Republic. He said he finds comfort in his furry friends during difficult times.
Liu has taken his starring role in “Shang-Chi” to heart, stating, “This idea that there is something in the world now that wasn’t there before that is meaningful to kids and [touches] people’s lives, I think that’s really incredible.”

Kumail Nanjiani: The “Eternals” star made his debut on the “Sexiest Man Alive” issue and also recreated a childhood photo with the magazine.

Nanjiani was known for his role in the HBO comedy series “Silicon Valley” and the film “The Big Sick” before starring in “Eternals.”
He shared with People that he was shy during his childhood. “I was very quiet and very shy and not very social,” Nanjiani said. “I played video games and watched movies. I definitely felt the most awkward the last few years of high school, when I started feeling pressure to have friends and get invited to parties and start liking girls and all that stuff.”
It was only when he moved to the U.S. for college that he gained more confidence. “When I got to college, I really sort of started figuring out who I was,” Nanjiani shared. “I had a great time in college. I didn’t think I was funny until then, but pretty quickly there, I realized that I could make people laugh.”

Bowen Yang: The “SNL” star also made his debut in this year’s “Sexiest Man Alive” issue.

The Emmy-nominated comedian made history by becoming the first Asian cast member on “Saturday Night Live” in 2019.
In his interview with People, Yang shared, “Some of my happiest moments have been at the afterparties” of the show.
“The after parties in SNL are wonderful,” Yang said. “They kind of span the full spectrum of human emotion where you’re either triumphantly celebrating or you are fully crestfallen in the sunken place and you are just in full despair mode. That’s kind of beautiful that there’s space for all that to co-exist without one dominating the other.
Yang also shared his favorite hangover remedies for the mornings after “SNL” parties which include eating a bacon, egg and cheese bagel in Brooklyn or fried dumplings and watching “90 Day Fiancé.”

Featured Image via People

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