RISING STARS

Exciting faces to watch

simu liu, 30 Actor

Liu, who plays Jung on Kim’s

Convenience, has long been beloved for his charm, wit and six-pack abs. All three (or eight) of these things helped Liu land the titular role in the upcoming

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Marvel’s first superhero movie with an Asian lead.

maitreyi ramakrishnan, 17 Actor

The Mississauga teen beat out 15,000 other aspirants from around the world to be cast as the lead in Mindy Kaling’s new Netflix comedy series, Never

Have I Ever. The show was inspired by Kaling’s own experience, but the bubbly and broadly talented Ramakrishnan will surely make the role her own.

ashley audrain, 37 Author

Write what you know, they say. And this publicist turned author wrote her first novel, The Push, a psychological drama about the complexities of motherhood, while she was on maternity leave. The book sold in 23 countries in just two weeks, setting an industry record.

Brittni donaldson, 26 Assistant coach, Toronto Raptors

Sure, we lost Kawhi, but behind the bench, the Raptors have only gotten better. Already a secret weapon in the front office, former data analyst Brittni Donaldson was promoted to assistant coach this season, becoming just the 10th woman to hold such a position in the NBA.

satish kanwar, 33 GM and VP of product, Shopify

Kanwar sold his design firm, Jet Cooper, to Shopify back in 2013, then stayed on and set about establishing a presence in the GTA. You might say he’s delivered: HQ has dropped $500 million to double its staff to 1,500, open a 180,000-square-foot office space on King West and create a Front and Spadina space that’ll be even bigger.