South Korean actress Youn Yuh-Jung made history when she won the best supporting actress at the 93rd Academy Awards on Apr. 26 (Singapore time).
Oscar winner Yuh-Jung Youn and her new best friend.
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) April 26, 2021
Photo by @QUILLEMONS for @VanityFair pic.twitter.com/Q8N4T9vBng
Made history
The 73-year-old is the first Korean to win an acting award at the Oscars.
She's also the first Asian to win in the category since Japanese-born Miyoshi Umeki in 1957.
Youn won for her role in Minari, a family drama about Korean immigrants living in the U.S. in the 1980s.
She portrayed a grandmother who travelled from South Korea to rural Arkansas to help care for her two grandchildren.
"You are all forgiven"
Youn was presented the Oscar trophy by Brad Pitt, and gave a candid acceptance speech.
She began by teasing Pitt, who was a producer on Minari through his Plan B Entertainment production house, by asking him where he was during the filming of the movie.
She then talked about how people have been mispronouncing her name.
"Actually, my name is Yuh-Jung Youn, and most European people call me 'Yuh-Yung', and some of them call me 'Yoo-Jung'. But tonight, you are all forgiven."
Here's a full acceptance speech at the Oscars:
"I didn't smell him, I'm not dog"
The real fireworks, however, came backstage when reporters repeatedly asked Youn about Pitt.
One reporter asked her what Pitt smelled like, to which Youn replied: "I didn’t smell him, I'm not dog."
#Minari star and Oscar winner Yuh-Jung Youn responds to a question about what Brad Pitt smells like: "I didn't smell him, I'm not dog" https://t.co/ovtJy4btWT pic.twitter.com/xfBI8BVg8m
— Variety (@Variety) April 26, 2021
"Very snobbish people"
This isn't the first time Youn had made headlines for her charming, straightforward remarks.
Youn won best supporting actress at the 74th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs) earlier this month.
Her acceptance speech went viral for her tongue-in-cheek jab at British people, whom she called "very snobbish".
She said:
"Thank you so much for this award. Every award is meaningful, but this one, especially [to be] recognised by British people, known as very snobbish people, and they approve me as a good actor. So I'm very, very privileged and happy."
Here's her full speech at the BAFTAs.
Top photo via Getty Images.
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