Sandra Oh wins her second Golden Globe and Emma Stone apologizes for her role in “Aloha.”
For a majority of the Indian Americans, the 2018 Golden Globes may have been an ultimate reassurance of their identity in America, as Aziz Ansari became the first Asian to win the Best Actor Award. Looks like the 2019 Golden Globes continued the Asians’ and Asian Americans’ rising trend.
Korean Canadian actress Sandra Oh created history by taking home her second Golden Globe. With her win, she became the second woman of Asian descent to win the Best TV Drama Actress. Oh, who was also the co-host of the evening, won the award for her role in Killing Eve. Before Oh, Yoko Shimada has been the only woman of Asian descent to win in the same category.
With her win, Oh joins the illustrious but short list of other Asians who have won the honors. The other Asian performers who won the Globes include Ben Kingsley for Gandhi, Haing S. Ngor for The Killing Fields, Sandra Oh who earlier in 2006 for Grey’s Anatomy and Aziz Ansari in 2018 for Master of None.
Oh gave an ode to her Korean roots in a naturally moving reaction during her acceptance speech. She addressed her mom and dad – “Oppa” and “Omma” in Korean — while thanking them for their support.
But besides these obvious moments of Asian presence there were also touching undercurrents of unified creative presence in Hollywood when actor Emma Stone took it as an opportunity to apologize to Oh for her much-criticized role in Aloha.
As the co-host for the evening, Oh along with host Andy Samberg, spoke about the lack of Asian American representation in Hollywood. Oh said that Crazy Rich Asians was the first studio American film with Asian American lead since Ghost in the Shell and Aloha. Stone shouted out an apology: ‘’I’m Sorry!’’ Stone was criticized for her role in Aloha where she played a Hawaiian Chinese girl.
So, while the Indian Americans may have missed a prominent Indian origin face on stage or on the red carpet, the Asian presence re- confirmed for all immigrants that America values its diversity.