Simu Liu, star of the box-office smash Shang-Chi and The Legend of The Ten Rings and the sitcom Kim’s Convenience, is set to host the 2022 Juno Awards on May 15. Liu will be the first actor to host the Junos since William Shatner in 2012.
This will be the first time the Junos have been presented in-person since 2019, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Liu, 32, guest hosted NBC’s Saturday Night Live in November, with musical guest Saweetie.
“It’s an absolute honour to be hosting the 51st Annual Juno Awards,” Liu said in a statement. “Canadian entertainment and culture hold a very important place in my heart and getting the chance to experience the festivities in my hometown makes the experience even more special to me.”
Liu was born in China, but immigrated to Canada when he was 5. His selection to host the Junos is part of a global effort to increase diversity of awards show hosts. The Junos had Black hosts or co-hosts the last two years. Musician and broadcaster Odario Williams co-hosted the 2020 show (with Damhnait Doyle). Radio personality Angeline Tetteh-Wayoe hosted the 2021 show.
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Prior to this new focus on diversity, the most recent hosts of color on the Junos were Drake in 2011, and Russell Peters, a stand-up comedian of Indian descent, in 2008-09.
Shang-Chi and the Legend of The Ten Rings was a global smash. The film was No. 1 on boxofficemojo.com’s domestic box-office chart for four consecutive weekends in September. It wound up as the second highest grossing film of 2021 in the U.S., behind only Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The 51st annual Juno Awards will be held in an outdoor venue (Budweiser Stage in Toronto) for the first time in its history. The show will broadcast and stream live across Canada at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT on CBC TV, CBC Gem, CBC Radio One, CBC Music, CBC Listen, and globally at CBCMusic.ca/junos.
Insight Productions (A Boat Rocker Company) is producing this year’s show. Tickets start at $39.95 and go on sale March 4.