Oscars 2021: Everything You Need To Know About Youn Yuh-jung, Korea's First Oscar-Winning Actress

Her win is the second Oscars success for a Korean-language film in as many years, after Parasite became the first non-English language best picture winner in 2020

Septuagenarian Youn Yuh-jung, South Korea's first Oscar-winning actress, has spent decades portraying nonconformist characters, from a vicious heiress to an ageing prostitute, challenging social norms in both career and life. Her best supporting actress turn in Minari, a family drama about Korean immigrants in the US, is relatively more conventional: she portrays a playful grandmother to a mischievous young boy trying to adapt to life in rural Arkansas. The film, written and directed by Korean-American Lee Issac Chung, earned six nominations overall including for best picture, best actor and a nod for Chung. Youn's win is the second Oscars success for a Korean-language film in as many years, after Parasite became the first non-English language best picture winner in 2020. Youn, whose two grown sons are Asian-Americans, had played down excitement over her chance to make history, telling reporters last month: "This is not a playoff game of actors, placing them in order" and in her acceptance speech on Sunday, she honored her fellow nominees, exclaiming: "How can I win over Glenn Close?" She had already collected a best supporting actress Screen Actors Guild award - the first South Korean actress to do so - and a BAFTA for her performance, along with a string of prizes on the festival circuit. Based on Chung's own experiences growing up in America in the 1980s, Minari" follows a Korean-born father who moves his family to a mainly white town in rural Arkansas in pursuit of a better life.