‘Last Week Tonight’s John Oliver Highlights Simu Liu & John Boyega In Stock Photo Beginnings

deadline.com:

John Oliver spotlighted Simu Liu and John Boyega on Last Week Tonight for their beginnings as stock photo models. In the last segment of the HBO show, Oliver talked about stock photos, noting that that’s how the Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and Star Wars: The Force Awakens stars got their start. “Stock photos provide an income stream, not just for photographers, but also for actors starting out,” Oliver said.

Oliver cut to a photo of Boyega in a picture posing as a student. The late-night show host then presented Liu with a series of photos “pointing at a laptop, looking at the camera during a group project and exercising in a totally normal, not at all unhinged way.” Oliver was poking fun at the way Liu was posing while seemingly exercising for the picture.

For the HBO show, Oliver says that they make their own graphics, using their own staff as models for the pictures they use on-screen.

However, when they don’t have a person who matches the characteristics they need, they go to stock photos. Over the years, Oliver and the producers have developed a liking for a particular model named Ilgar Pashayev, who has thousands of photos from the stock photo provider Shutterstock.