Pakistani-Canadian Ms. Marvel star Iman Vellani acknowledged the small but growing number of Canadians leading the MCU.
When asked by Toronto’s NOW Magazine whether she’s “finding a community among Canadian Marvel people,” Vellani replied that she’s corresponded with Shang-Chi‘s Simu Liu and recognized the importance of diverse Canadian representation in not just the MCU, but entertainment as a whole:
“I have spoken to Simu. He was very sweet . . . It’s nice to have that little community of people who get it and see just how monumental something like this is, especially for Canada and for South Asians and Pakistanis and Muslims. We’re representing so many people.”
Vellani also shouted out Tamil-Canadian Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, whom she considers her best friend. Although not an MCU actor, Ramakrishnan stars in the popular Netflix teen dramedy series Never Have I Ever, and was among the cast of Pixar’s hit Turning Red.
Rounding out the MCU’s leading Canadian actors are the aforementioned Simu Liu, who is Chinese-Canadian and plays Shang-Chi; Tatiana Maslany, who is Ukrainian-Polish-German-Austrian-Romanian-Canadian and will portray Jennifer Walters/She-Hulk in the upcoming Disney Plus series She-Hulk: Attorney at Law; and Devery Jacobs, a Mohawk First Nations-Canadian who will star in a different Disney Plus series, Echo. Other Canadian MCU actors include Cobie Smulders (Maria Hill), Evangeline Lilly (Wasp), Pom Klementieff (Mantis), Rachel McAdams (Christine Palmer), Serinda Swan (Medusa), Currie Graham (Calvin Chadwick), Carrie-Anne Moss (Jeri Hogarth), Emily VanCamp (Sharon Carter), Leah Gibson (Inez Green), and Nathan Fillion (Monstrous Inmate).
Watch Vellani join the ranks of Canadian MCU superstars when Ms. Marvel debuts on June 8 on Disney Plus.