Sandra Oh

Sandra Oh

Oh at a Writer's Guild of America protest, November 2007
Born July 20, 1971 (1971-07-20) (age 39)
Nepean, Ontario, Canada
Occupation Actress
Years active 1989–present
Spouse Alexander Payne (2003-2006; divorced)

Sandra Oh (born July 20, 1971) is a Canadian actress. She is primarily known for her role as Dr. Cristina Yang in the ABC series Grey's Anatomy, for which she has won a Golden Globe award. She also played notable roles in the feature films Under the Tuscan Sun and Sideways, and had a supporting role on the HBO original series Arli$$.

Contents

Early life

Oh was born in the Ottawa suburb of Nepean, to middle-class Korean immigrant parents Joon-Soo (John) and Young-Nam, who had come to Canada in the early 1960s.[1] Her father is a businessman and her mother a biochemist.[2] Oh has a brother, Ray, and a sister, Grace. She grew up living on Camwood Crescent in Nepean, where she began acting and dancing ballet at an early age.[3] At the age of 10, she played The Wizard of Woe in a class musical, The Canada Goose.

Later, at Sir Robert Borden High School, she founded the Environmental club BASE (Borden Active Students for the Environment), leading a campaign against the use of styrofoam cups. While at Sir Robert Borden High School she was Student Council President. She also played the flute and continued both her ballet training and acting studies; however, she knew that she "was not good enough to be a professional dancer"[3] and eventually focused solely on acting. This interest led her to take drama classes, act in school plays, and join the drama club where she took part in the Canadian Improv Games and Skit Row High, a comedy group. Against her parents' advice, she rejected a four-year journalism scholarship to Carleton University to study drama at the prestigious National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, paying her own way. She told her parents that she would try acting for a few years, and if that failed, return to school.[4] Curiously, while studying at the National Theatre School, she portrayed a waitress in the made-for-television film, School's Out, in which her co-worker, Caitlin Ryan (Stacie Mistysyn) also considers turning down her acceptance into Carleton University's journalism program.

Soon after graduating from the National Theatre School in 1993, she starred in a London, Ontario stage production of David Mamet's Oleanna. Around the same time, she won roles in biographical TV films of two significant female Chinese-Canadians: as Vancouver author Evelyn Lau in The Diary of Evelyn Lau (Oh won the role over more than 1,000 others who auditioned); and as Adrienne Clarkson in a CBC biopic of Clarkson's life.

Career

Oh became even more widely known in Canada for her lead performance in the Canadian film Double Happiness, for which she won the Genie Award for Best Actress. She then went on to star in the 1997 international feature hit film Bean playing the supporting role of Bernice, the art gallery P.R. manager. Her other Canadian films include Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity and Last Night, for which she again won a Best Actress Genie.

Sandra Oh at the 2007 Golden Globes

Oh is most familiar to American audiences from her roles in the films Under the Tuscan Sun and Sideways. She considers Sideways to be one of the two best movies she has made, along with Evelyn Lau.[4] In the less well-known Dancing at the Blue Iguana, she played a poetry-writing stripper, performed several nude dance routines and received the movie's best reviews. On American television, she is renowned for her current role in the hit ABC medical series Grey's Anatomy, for which she has won both a 2005 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series and a 2006 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series. In July 2009, she received her fifth consecutive Emmy nomination for her work on the series.

Oh received critical acclaim for her six seasons as Rita Wu on the HBO series Arli$$. She received an NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series and a Cable Ace award for Best Actress in a Comedy for her work on Arli$$. In theatre, Oh has also starred in the world premieres of Jessica Hagedorn's Dogeaters at the La Jolla Playhouse and Diana Son's Stop Kiss at Joseph Papp's Public Theatre in New York City. She made several guest appearances on the series Popular (1999) playing a humanities teacher. She has also guest starred in the television series Kung Fu: The Legend Continues, Judging Amy, Six Feet Under, and Odd Job Jack.

In 2006, she costarred in the film The Night Listener as "Anna," alongside Robin Williams and Toni Collette. In her only audiobook, she played Brigid O'Shaughnessy in a Grammy nominated dramatization of The Maltese Falcon (2008), which also featured Michael Madsen and Edward Herrmann.

She also has done a few voice roles in animation, including a few guest appearances in American Dragon: Jake Long and the voice of Doofah in The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends.

Oh was host of the 28th Genie Awards on March 3, 2008.[5]

In 2009, Oh performed in The People Speak a documentary feature film that uses dramatic and musical performances of the letters, diaries, and speeches of everyday Americans, based on historian Howard Zinn's "A People's History of the United States”.[6]

Personal life

Oh and Sideways filmmaker Alexander Payne were in a relationship for five years. They married on January 1, 2003, separated in early 2005 and divorced in late 2006.[7]

Filmography

Year Film Role Notes
1994 Double Happiness Jade Li Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Special Mention Award at the Torino Film Festival (For the acting performance)
1997 Bean Bernice Schimmel
Bad Day on the Block
1998 Last Night Sandra Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
Vancouver International Film Festival for Women in Film Award
Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Actress
The Red Violin Madame Ming
Permanent Midnight Friend
1999 Guinevere Cindy
2000 Waking the Dead Kim
Dancing at the Blue Iguana Jasmine Best Acting Award at the Milan International Film Festival
2001 The Princess Diaries Vice Principal Gupta
The Frank Truth Herself (actress) (documentary)
2002 Big Fat Liar Mrs. Phyllis Caldwell
Full Frontal Fourth Fired Employee
Rick Michelle
Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity Kin Ho Lum
2003 Under the Tuscan Sun Patti
Owning Mahowny Craps Player (uncredited)
2004 Sideways Stephanie Boston Society of Film Critics Award for Best Cast
Broadcast Film Critics Association Award for Best Cast
Phoenix Film Critics Society Award for Best Cast
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture
Wilby Wonderful Carol French Nominated — Chlotrudis Award for Best Supporting Actress
Mulan II Ting Ting
2005 Hard Candy Judy Tokuda
Break a Leg Young Turk
Cake Lulu
3 Needles Mary the Nun
Sorry, Haters Phyllis MacIntyre
Kind of a Blur Joe
2006 The Night Listener Anna
For Your Consideration Marketing Person
2007 The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends Doofah
2008 Blindness Minister of Health
2009 Defendor Dr. Park
The People Speak Herself Documentary
Quantum Quest: A Cassini Space Odyssey Gal 2000
2010 Ramona and Beezus Mrs. Meacham The 3rd Grade Teacher. Released July 23, 2010
Rabbit Hole Gabby

Short subjects

Television

Year Film Role Notes
1989 Denim Blues Gwen
1992 Degrassi High: School's Out Waitress (uncredited)
1993 The Diary of Evelyn Lau Evelyn Lau Nominated — Gemini Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Mini-Series
1995 If Not for You 2 episodes
Lonesome Dove: The Outlaw Years Ming Li 1 episode
Cagney & Lacey:The View Through the Glass Ceiling Officer Angela Lum
1996 Kung Fu: The Legend Continues Mai Chi 1 episode
1996–2002 Arli$$ Rita Wu CableACE Award for Actress in a Comedy Series
Nominated — NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series
1999 Happily Ever After: Fairy Tales for Every Child Breadcrumb (voice)
2000 Popular Humanities Teacher 2 episodes
2001 Date Squad Alpha Baby
Further Tales of the City Bambi Kanetaka
Six Feet Under Porn Starlet
Judging Amy Detective Shelly Tran
2001–2002 The Proud Family Marsha Mitsubishi 5 episodes
2005–2009 American Dad! Katie/Toshi's Mother
2005–present Grey's Anatomy Dr. Cristina Yang Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2006)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series (Won 2007, Nominated 2006 and 2008)
Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series (2006)
Nominated — Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress – Drama Series (2005–2009)
Nominated — Satellite Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film (2005)
2006 Odd Job Jack Vanessa 2 episodes
2006–2007 American Dragon: Jake Long Sun Park
2008 Phineas & Ferb Dr. Doofenshmirtz's Girlfriend 2 episodes
2009 Robot Chicken Kate Winslet/Sarah Connor

References

  1. ↑ "The Winding Career of Sandra Oh". NPR. 23 November 2004. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4183846. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  2. ↑ "Sandra Oh Biography". Film Reference. http://www.filmreference.com/film/44/Sandra-Oh.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Sandra Oh on the Challenge of Being Korean in Hollywood". The Chosun Ilbo. 13 April 2007. http://english.chosun.com/w21data/html/news/200704/200704130012.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Posner, Michael (12 May 2007). "Sandra Oh's Doing Just Fine: Profile". Toronto Globe and Mail: pp. R6-R7. http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070512.wxoh12/BNStory/Entertainment. Retrieved 2007-05-30. 
  5. ↑ "Awards Ceremony Host biography". http://www.genieawards.ca/Genie28/host.cfm. 
  6. ↑ http://www.thepeoplespeak.com/pages/credits/
  7. ↑ Lee, Ken; Stephen M. Silverman (27 December 2006). "Sandra Oh's Marriage Is Officially Over". People Magazine. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20005420,00.html. Retrieved 2007-05-31. 

External links

Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress – Series, Miniseries or Television Film

Piper Laurie (1990) · Amanda Donohoe (1991) · Joan Plowright (1992) · Julia Louis-Dreyfus (1993) · Miranda Richardson (1994) · Shirley Knight (1995) · Kathy Bates (1996) · Angelina Jolie (1997) · Faye Dunaway/Camryn Manheim (1998) · Nancy Marchand (1999) · Vanessa Redgrave (2000) · Rachel Griffiths (2001) · Kim Cattrall (2002) · Mary-Louise Parker (2003) · Anjelica Huston (2004) · Sandra Oh (2005) · Emily Blunt (2006) · Samantha Morton (2007) · Laura Dern (2008) · Chloë Sevigny (2009)

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Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series

Kathy Baker (1994) · Gillian Anderson (1995) · Gillian Anderson (1996) · Julianna Margulies (1997) · Julianna Margulies (1998) · Edie Falco (1999) · Allison Janney (2000) · Allison Janney (2001) · Edie Falco (2002) · Frances Conroy (2003) · Jennifer Garner (2004) · Sandra Oh (2005) · Chandra Wilson (2006) · Edie Falco (2007) · Sally Field (2008) · Julianna Margulies (2009)