In 2010, Dallas Lui burst onto the acting scene as Young Jin Kazama in the Tekken movie adaptation. Using his background in martial arts, he caught the acting bug and appeared in several projects afterwards.
It wasn’t until Hulu’s hilarious comedy, PEN15, he got his biggest break playing Shuji Ishi-Peters, the eldest brother to Maya Ishi-Peters (Erskine) and protective friend to both Maya and her best friend, Anna (Konkle).
Hulu’s comedy series about a typical middle school gave fans a realistic look at students’ experiences. The story is told from Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle’s perspectives and is essentially a shot-for-shot retelling of their middle school lives.
At times, Shuji pretends not to care but he listens quite attentively to his little sister when she’s freaking out over minor problems. He’s the ideal big brother—Maya just doesn’t know it yet. Since Maya will presumably be dealing with “growing” issues, Shuji is going to be the first person she can turn to. Fans would expect Anna to fill that role but she hasn’t matured yet, leaving Shuji to answer all the questions Anna cannot. Shuji might be a little clueless about the particulars of womanhood but a supportive shoulder to cry on should suffice.
The Koalition spoke to Liu about his career, the future of his character and more.
