In 2021, Sam Song Li was cast in an independent film as the ancestor of a character played by a pre-"Shang-Chi" Simu Liu. To the general public, the non-speaking cameo might seem insignificant. A producer told him she picked him after looking at more than 200 people for the role, for which he was “on screen for like a whole 30 seconds,” Li recalled to The Associated Press. Almost three years later, Li is one of the leads in an all-Asian cast and, like Liu, acting opposite Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh. He and Justin Chien play the scions of a Taiwanese triad leader in the new Netflix series “The Brothers Sun,” dropping Thursday.