Why Sandra Oh Deserves an Oscar
November 26, 2004
Let me make one thing clear from the very start: Sandra Oh is the best Asian American actor working in Hollywood today. She should be nominated for an Oscar this year for her work in the new Alexander Payne film Sideways.
I know this statement might upset some of my other actor friends. After all, it is a bold statement to anoint anyone as the best at anything, but let’s look at the evidence.
The 33-year-old Korean Canadian actress first made a name for herself in America with the lead role in Chinese Canadian director Mina Shum’s Double Happiness. That led to a steady stream of supporting roles in American films (Diane Lane’s best friend in last year’s Under The Tuscan Sun), television (a regular on HBO’s Arli$$) and theater (including Chay Yew’s adaptation of The House of Bernardo Alba at the Mark Taper Forum).
Most of the roles Oh has played have tended to be, in her own words, the sassy best friend, but I have never seen her performance be bad or even average in anything — even in some less-than-quality projects. Look at The Princess Diaries, where even with a small, underwritten part, she can steal the movie from everyone else.
What Oh has is unique. She’s not your classic “hot” leading lady. She would never replace a woman like Kelly Hu as the object of men’s animal lust. But Oh is eminently watchable and interesting. She has an elasticity that allows her to stretch and disappear into her characters without a shred of vanity or visible effort. Kathy Bates can do that. So can Gene Hackman. Ditto Robert Duvall. Oh may not be at such a powerhouse level yet, but it’s just a matter of time and the right roles.
What this means is that Oh may be relegated to the status of character actor for the rest of her career (at least in Hollywood films). But what’s wrong with that? I would argue that as an Asian American actor, you’re probably better off being a character actor anyway. How many leading roles for Asian American characters do you see coming out of Hollywood? While the Rick Yunes and Lucy Lius spend as much, if not more, time sitting by their phones waiting for the next job, Oh can continue working non-stop and giving us one sublime performance after the other.
And then there is … talent. Oh is one of the hardest-working actors I know. She has put years of effort into her craft. She got to where she is the old-fashioned way — through sheer sweat and ability. I’ve no doubt she’s going to be in this for the long haul.
Which brings us to Oh’s latest film Sideways, directed by Alexander Payne, responsible for the critically acclaimed About Schmidt, Election and Citizen Ruth. Payne also happens to be Oh’s husband and in Sideways has given his wife the best film role of her career.
Sideways tells the story of two male friends going through a middle-aged crisis of sorts; they meet two women in the wine country, one of them played by Oh.
Oh finally has a part that allows her to dig deep. And she delivers. One only hopes that husband and wife plan to continue working together. Hey, it’s been a while since we’ve had a dynamic directing-acting couple like John Cassavetes and Gena Rowlands.
I think Oh will be nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award. Being in one of the most critically acclaimed movies of 2004 can’t hurt. But what it comes down to is that Oh is a kick-ass actress and she’s given one of the best performances of this year.
And if that’s not enough, she still has about a half dozen films waiting to come out, and you can catch her this January in the new ABC television series Grey’s Anatomy.
Come February, if you see her step up to the podium to collect a little gold statue of a naked man named Oscar … well, you heard the prediction here first.
Philip W. Chung is a writer and co-artistic director of Lodestone Theatre Ensemble.
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