Sandra Oh

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Sandra Oh

Sandra Oh at a Writer's Guild of America protest
Born July 20, 1971 (1971-07-20) (age 36)
Nepean, Ontario, Canada
Years active 1989 - present
Spouse(s) Alexander Payne (2003-2006)

Sandra Oh (born July 20, 1971) is a two-time Genie Award-winning, Golden Globe Award-winning and a three-time Emmy Award-nominated Canadian actress. She is known to American audiences for her role as Dr. Cristina Yang in the ABC series Grey's Anatomy, her roles in the feature films Under the Tuscan Sun and Sideways, and her supporting role on the HBO original series Arli$$.

In 2005, Oh made People magazine's list of the 50 Most Beautiful People.[1] Oh has also won the Screen Actors Guild's award and Genie Award twice each.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life

Oh was born in Nepean, Ontario, to middle-class Korean immigrant parents Joon-Soo (John) and Young-Nam, who had come to Canada in the late 1960s. Her father is a businessman and her mother a biochemist.[2] Oh grew up living on Camwood Crescent in the Ottawa[3] suburb of Nepean, Ontario, where she began dancing and acting at an early age.[4] At the age of 10, she played "The Wizard of Woe" in a class play, "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. While in high school, she 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"[4] 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.[5]

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 bio-pic of Clarkson's life.

[edit] 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. Her other Canadian films include Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity and Last Night, for which she again won a Best Actress Genie. Oh also won FIPA d'Or Best Actress at Cannes Film Festival for her role in The Diary of Evelyn Lau.

Sandra Oh at the 2007 Golden Globes
Sandra Oh at the 2007 Golden Globes

Oh is most familiar to American audiences from her roles in the popular 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.[5] 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 2006 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 2007, she received her third 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, American Dragon: Jake Long, 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. Although Oh remains active in feature films, the critically acclaimed Grey's Anatomy remains her primary current occupation.

Oh was host of the 28th Genie Awards on March 3, 2008.[6]

[edit] Personal life

Oh and Sideways filmmaker Alexander Payne, were in a relationship for five years, including two years of marriage; they married on January 1, 2003. Payne and Oh separated in early 2005 and divorced in late 2006.[7] Oh is currently dating musician Andrew Featherston.[8][9]

Oh's brother, Ray, is completing a Ph.D. in medical genetics at the University of Toronto and Ontario Cancer Institute. Her sister Grace is a crown attorney and mother of two children in Vancouver, British Columbia.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] Features

[edit] Short subjects

  • The Journey Home (1989)
  • Prey (1995)
  • Cowgirl (1996)
  • Three Lives of Kate (2000) (narrator)
  • Barrier Device (2002)
  • 8 Minutes to Love (2004)

[edit] Television

[edit] References

  1. ^ Goldberg, Nathaniel. "People's 50 Most Beautiful People", People Magazine, 27 April 2005. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. 
  2. ^ Sandra Oh Biography. Film Reference. Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  3. ^ The Winding Career of Sandra Oh. NPR (23 Nov 2004). Retrieved on 2007-05-31.
  4. ^ a b "Sandra Oh on the Challenge of Being Korean in Hollywood", The Chosun Ilbo, 13 April 2007. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. 
  5. ^ a b Posner, Michael. "Sandra Oh's Doing Just Fine: Profile", Toronto Globe and Mail, 12 May 2007, pp. R6-R7. Retrieved on 2007-05-30. 
  6. ^ "Awards Ceremony Host biography". 
  7. ^ Lee, Ken; Stephen M. Silverman. "Sandra Oh's Marriage Is Officially Over", People Magazine, 27 Dec 2006. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. 
  8. ^ Glock, Allison. "Sandra Oh Talks Life, Family, and Grey's Anatomy", Marie Claire, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-05-31. 
  9. ^ TMZ Photo Galleries. Celebs Swappin' Spit. TMZ. Retrieved on 2007-08-04.

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Awards
Preceded by
Sheila McCarthy
for The Lotus Eaters		 Genie Award for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role
1995
for Double Happiness		 Succeeded by
Helena Carter
for Margaret's Museum
Preceded by
{{{before}}}		 Cable ACE Award for Best Actress - Comedy Series
1997
for Arli$$		 Succeeded by
{{{after}}}
Preceded by
Jennifer Garner
for Alias		 Screen Actors Guild Award for Best Actress - Drama Series
2005
for Grey's Anatomy		 Succeeded by
Chandra Wilson
for Grey's Anatomy
Preceded by
Anjelica Huston
for Iron Jawed Angels		 Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Mini-series, or Motion Picture Made for Television
2006
for Grey's Anatomy		 Succeeded by
Emily Blunt
for Gideon's Daughter


Persondata
NAME Oh, Sandra
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION Canadian actress
DATE OF BIRTH July 20, 1971
PLACE OF BIRTH Nepean, Ontario, Canada
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH
v • d • e
Grey's Anatomy
General
Main characters
Cast
Shonda Rhimes · Private Practice · Official Website