Youn Yuh-jung

In the running: best supporting actress for Minari

She’s the first South Korean actress to be nominated for an Oscar, a Bafta, a Critics’ Choice Movie Award and two Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards – the latter three of which she won.

The 73-year-old Youn Yuh-jung made her acting debut in 1967, after passing an acting audition held by a local broadcasting company. However, her breakthrough moment – in an illustrious career spanning over 50 years – came four years later in 1971, when she won awards for her role as a femme fatale in the film Woman of Fire.

Acting took a back seat when she got married and immigrated to the United States in 1975, resuming only in 1984 when she returned permanently to South Korea. In a testament to her talent and charm, Youn beat the odds in a youth-obsessed society by pulling off a stellar comeback despite her age and the stigma attached to divorcees.

Chloé Zhao

In the running: best picture, best director, best adapted screenplay and best editing for Nomadland

At the age of 15, and despite knowing nearly no English, Zhao attended boarding school in the UK before moving to Los Angeles to finish high school. She eventually studied film production at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.

Riz Ahmed

In the running: best actor for Sound of Metal

He’s the first Muslim nominated for a best actor Oscar; and the first Muslim and first Asian actor to win lead actor at the Emmy Awards in 2017.

A British actor of Pakistani descent, Riz Ahmed began his career playing roles in independent films such as The Road to Guantanamo (2006), Four Lions (2010) and The Reluctant Fundamentalist (2013). The following year, in 2014, he got his big break co-starring alongside Jake Gyllenhaal in Nightcrawler.

That said, most of you will probably recognise Ahmed from his roles in Jason Bourne (Aaron Kalloor) and Rogue One (Bodhi Rook). Besides acting, he’s also a respected solo musician with his own record label, a member of the hip-hop group Swet Shop Boys and a producer of two chart-topping albums.

Recently, Ahmed married bestselling novelist Fatima Farheen Mirza in a low-key, socially distanced wedding ceremony. The couple met at a cafe in New York, where Ahmed was preparing for his Oscar-nominated role.

Steven Yeun

In the running: best actor for Minari

He’s the first Asian-American actor to be nominated for a best actor Oscar.

Born in Seoul and raised in Canada and Michigan, Yeun got his English name after his parents met a doctor called Steven. Although he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in psychology, his interest in acting and improv was sparked during his undergraduate years in Kalamazoo College.

Given two years by his parents to make it as an actor, Yeun’s perseverance has now paid off. Though we don’t foresee his acting career stalling after this, he has his stake in The Bun Shop, a Korean-Mediterranean fusion restaurant in LA’s Koreatown, to fall back on. Yeun is married to photographer Joana Pak and has two children.

Lee Isaac Chung

In the running: best director and best original screenplay for Minari

In 2018, Lee Isaac Chung was close to giving up on filmmaking and accepting a teaching job. While the Korean-American director’s debut feature, Munyurangabo, was an official selection at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival, his subsequent efforts hovered just below mainstream radar till Minari came along.

The semi-autobiographical film is based on Chung’s experience as a child of South Korean immigrants trying to make it in rural America. He’s officially made it, just perhaps not in the way most Asian parents imagine. Chung is an alumnus of the United States Senate Youth Program and studied biology at Yale before dropping out in his last year to pursue filmmaking.

Despite controversy over whether Minari should be categorised as a foreign language film at the Golden Globe Awards, it went on to win in this category.

Derek Tsang

In the running: best international feature film for Better Days

More prolific as a filmmaker, Tsang acts occasionally too, appearing in South Korean heist flick The Thieves. His previous works, Lover’s Discourse and Soul Mate, were both nominated for the Golden Horse Awards, but it wasn’t until Better Days that Tsang truly stepped out of his father’s shadow. The coming-of-age tale dominated Hong Kong Film Awards, sweeping up eight trophies, and pulled in US$230 million from the box office.

Tsang married actress Venus Wong at a destination wedding in Hokkaido, Japan.

This article originally appeared on Buro 247 MY.

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