Simu Liu has revealed the celebrity encounters that led to his "most starstruck" moment.
The newly minted Avengers star opened up about which celebrities he had been most excited to meet.
Simu, 37, told People Magazine he had been left gobsmacked when he was introduced to X-Men legends, Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen, who play Professor X and Magneto respectively.
He explained that as a lifelong "super-nerd", it was thrilling to come face to face with the actors, who had also played lead roles in the iconic Star Trek and Lord of the Rings franchises.
"For me, it's Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen," Simu told the outlet. "Not just for their roles in X-Men, which are so iconic, but I also grew up just a massive (Star Trek) Next Generation super-nerd, and Lord of the Rings as well."
Patrick, 86, played Commander Jean-Luc Picard on the Star Trek: The Next Generation series, while Ian, 87, starred as Gandalf in the big-screen adaptations of JRR Tolkien's books.
"Just getting to talk to them, getting to hang on set with them in between takes, it was the most starstruck I've ever been," Simu recalled.
He added he had experienced "this overwhelming sense of joy" when he began reading the scripts for his new role as martial artist Shang-Chi in two upcoming Marvel Universe movies.
"It's like that feeling of being in a sandbox and playing with all these action figures when you're really young," Simu said. "It was that feeling, except now you're one of the action figures."