Simu Liu Reveals He Was Fired as an Accountant for This Reason

Simu Liu is available for accounting advice — but only if you want to risk an IRS audit.

The Last Breath actor joked about his past short-lived career as an accountant in an interview on the Today show Tuesday, Feb. 25, after Craig Melvin asked whether friends still “try to hit [him] up for free tax advice” despite working as an actor now.

“I went to school for accounting and I spent eight months working as [an accountant], and then I got fired,” said Liu, 35, jokingly adding, “So I’m like, ‘Yeah, if you wanna go to jail for tax fraud, you can absolutely have me do your taxes. I would be happy to. However, they will not be done correctly.’ ”

While Melvin, 45, noted that the situation has “clearly worked out well for” Liu, he asked the Barbie actor how he got fired from his accountant gig after such a short amount of time.

“I answered an ad on Craigslist to be an extra in a Guillermo del Toro movie [Pacific Rim] and I turned my phone off, ’cause I thought no one was gonna look for me, and then I turned my phone back on at the end of the day and I had like 42 missed calls,” he recalled. “It was crazy. And I was like ‘Yeah, I’m pretty sure I’m not gonna be employed after that.’ “

Never miss a story — sign up for PEOPLE’s free daily newsletter to stay up-to-date on the best of what PEOPLE has to offer​​, from celebrity news to compelling human-interest stories.

Liu previously said during an interview on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in June 2022 that he was working as an accountant with the consulting firm Deloitte in his 20s, and that his parents were “ecstatic” when he landed the job.

As for his mom Zheng and dad Zhenning’s reaction to him getting laid off from his position and using the opportunity to dive headfirst into acting, Liu said, “That was a tough conversation.”

But he was forced to have it after putting it off initially, as the Canadian actor had a national commercial coming out the next day that his parents were bound to see.

“And no, it did not go over well,” he told host Stephen Colbert at the time.

The PEOPLE Puzzler crossword is here! How quickly can you solve it? Play now!

Liu will next appear on the big screen opposite Woody Harrelson in Last Breath. The pair portray deep sea divers trying to save a colleague who gets trapped underwater.

While chatting about the film Tuesday on the Today show, Melvin also asked Liu when Marvel fans might see his titular Shang-Chi and The Legend of the Ten Rings character on the big screen again.

“Yeah, because I can talk freely about this stuff,” joked the actor, whose starring turn in the 2021 superhero film was his breakout role, of Marvel Studios’ notoriously tight-lipped reputation.

In seriousness, though, “We’re still really excited,” Liu added. “It’s still very much in development. It’s still very much in play, but beyond that, someone’s watching me right now.”

Last Breath is in theaters Friday, Feb. 28.