Downsizing star Hong Chau steals the show, creating big waves in role as a miniaturised exile
The Asian-American actress, who was born in a refugee camp, is the talk of Hollywood, collecting best supporting actress nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards, the Golden Globes and the Critics Choice Awards
Film academic Rajendra Roy recently introduced the star of the film Downsizing with the claim: “This is the last day in your life when you’ll ask the question, ‘Who is Hong Chau?’”
The endorsement ahead of a recent Los Angeles screening proved astonishingly prescient: within a week, the actress had been nominated for some of the biggest awards in Hollywood for her role in Alexander Payne’s satire.
“After you see this movie you will never ask that question again, because she will be the brightest star in your universe, as she is for all of us who have experienced this,” gushed Roy, chief film curator at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.
If the tribute sounds over-the-top, it is an assessment shared by the film industry and critics alike.
Chau, 38, has amassed best supporting actress nominations for the Screen Actors Guild Awards – seen as the most reliable predictor of Oscars glory – as well as the Critics Choice Awards and the Golden Globes.
Matt Damon’s Downsizing opens Venice film festival and impresses critics
Don’t expect elaborate navel-gazing about her method or motivation, however, because Chau doesn’t see acting as a particularly complicated job.