Youn Yuh Jung has won the Oscar as the first Korean actress. She is the first Asian actor who won the prize by performing in her native language.
The actress won the 93rd Academy Awards as the Best Supporting Actress from the film Minari. Among promising nominees such as Glenn Close and Amanda Seyfried, Youn Yuh Jung won the Oscar trophy at the awards ceremony held in Los Angeles on April 26th, KST.
The actress was a strong candidate for winning the Academy Awards. She previously took over the best-supporting actress award from major awards ceremonies, including the SAG Awards and Film Independent Spirit Awards. This Oscars award is more so meaningful to Youn Yuh Jung as she has become the first Asian performer to win the prize by acting in her native language and the sixth in a non-English language. She is also the second eldest actress among all Best Supporting Actress Award winners of all time.
The full version of her acceptance speech is available in the link below.
Best Supporting Actress Winner Yuh-Jung Youn's acceptance speech was hysterical. Watch the full thing: https://t.co/LsffGKAhao #Oscars pic.twitter.com/a23mys9amE
— Good Morning America (@GMA) April 26, 2021
Director Bong Joon Ho was also at the ceremony. He presented the Best Director Award to Nomadland‘s Chloé Zhao, the first Asian woman director to win the award. And as he appeared among the empty theatre, he started, “What does it mean to direct? What does a director do? These questions are hard to answer, even as a director.” He then caught the eyes as he introduced the five directors in Korean.
