Here is an unsettling fact, and one that underscores how much more work Hollywood has to do in both recognizing Asian actors and in addressing stereotypes of Asians on film: Until the 93rd Academy Awards were held last month, more white actresses had won Oscars for playing Asians than actual Asian actresses have won.
Luise Rainer won the Oscar for best actress in 1938 for playing — in yellowface — a Chinese woman named O-Lan in the film version of Pearl A. Buck's "The Good Earth." Decades later, in 1984, Linda Hunt won best supporting actress for playing a Chinese-Australian man in "The Year of Living Dangerously."
It's now tied up at two apiece: This year, Korean actress Youn Yuh-jung won best supporting actress for her portrayal of Soonja, a free-speaking, beloved grandmother in the critically acclaimed film "Minari." She became only the second Asian actress to win an Oscar since Japanese American actress and singer Miyoshi Umeki won in the same category in 1959 for her performance in "Sayonara."
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