While 2018 might have been dubbed the year of Asian representation in Hollywood, Sandra Oh has long been leading the march to bring more Asians and diversity to screens big and small across North America. And now, the recognition for her accomplished body of work and talented performances just keeps racking up.
Only four months into 2019, the Canadian-Korean actress has already scored numerous notable accolades this year. And the fabulous Ms. Oh can add another benchmark to her growing list of well-deserved nods: landing on the cover of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People edition.
"Grey's Anatomy" creator and showrunner Shonda Rhimes wrote a glowing profile of the actress as part of Time's 2019 list, which was published Wednesday.
Rhimes, no stranger to her own accolades as the first Black woman to helm a major TV drama series on a broadcast network, wrote that one of "the greatest gifts of her creative life has been the opportunity to write words to be spoken by Oh."
"Sandra Oh is a virtuoso. She treats dialogue like notes of music—every word must be played, every syllable correctly toned. She's always been an extraordinary actor. Her body of work makes that clear," wrote Rhimes.
Rhimes also noted the significance of Oh's place as she continues to move up the Hollywood ranks, knocking the doors to diversity open along the way, furthering the discussion about representation and inclusion in an industry that has not always thrown open its door to actors of colour.
.@shondarhimes: "With her nuanced characters, @IamSandraOh has chosen to fearlessly take up space in a universe that has not always made space for her" #TIME100https://t.co/r96hq9Ul4spic.twitter.com/NGUVLHMfRG
— TIME (@TIME) April 17, 2019
"With her nuanced characters, Sandra Oh has chosen to fearlessly take up space in a universe that has not always made space for her. Now, the power of her talented presence makes space for others. And that is a gift to every artist of color who follows in her footsteps," Rhimes wrote.
Oh made history last year as the first Asian woman nominated for an Emmy award for best actress in a drama series for her starring role in "Killing Eve," and has been talking for years about the importance of diversity and representation in Hollywood, and the dearth of roles for Asian actors.
After her Emmy nomination, Oh urged the entertainment industry to not just pay lip service to diversity and representation by honouring "a handful of us."
"It cannot rest. I don't want to rest on the fact that a handful of us have had the opportunity and that it stops there," she said. "I want the movement to keep on going. I want the ripple to turn into a wave."
— Sandra Oh (@IamSandraOh) June 29, 2018
Oh's acclaimed body of work spans decades, and has earned more than a few deserved props recently, propelling her further into the spotlight after her humble beginnings in Canada.
The Nepean, Ont.-born star studied drama at the National Theatre School in Montreal and had her breakthrough role in the television biopic "The Diary of Evelyn Lau." Her performance garnered a Gemini nomination and the 1994 Cannes FIPA d'Or for Best Actress. Oh moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to join the cast of HBO's comedy "Arliss," for which she received an NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Cable Ace award for Best Actress in a Comedy. Roles in films such as "Under the Tuscan Sun" and "Sideways" followed.
But it was probably her role as Dr. Cristina Yang in the hit TV series "Grey's Anatomy" that really propelled her into the spotlight. That role garnered her numerous award nominations over the course of her 10 years on the show.
She won her first Golden Globe in 2006 for her role Yang. With her 2019 win, she became the first woman of Asian descent to rack up more than one Golden Globe trophy and the first woman of Asian descent in 39 years to win a Golden Globe for best actress in a TV drama. (The last actress of Asian descent to win in that category was Yoko Shimada for "Shogun" in 1980.)
And, if that wasn't enough to make you shed a few happy tears, Oh, who killed it as the host, also moved many in her acceptance speech by noting the significance of her role on stage and on screen. She ended the emotional moment by thanking her parents in Korean who were proudly sitting in the audience in an acceptance speech that may have taken a few of us from happy tears to happy-ugly crying. In the best way possible.
The 47-year-old actress also became the third Asian American woman to host "Saturday Night Live" from New York, after Lucy Liu in 2000 and Awkwafina in 2018.
In her home and native land, Oh also received a National Arts Centre award in recognition of her incredible year this year.
We're here for it all.
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