Accepting the Best Supporting Actress honor from Brad Pitt, the South Korean actress sparks laughter among the attendees with her speech in which she thanks her family and late director Kim Ki-Young.
- April 27, 2021
AceShowbiz - "Minari" star Yuh-Jung Youn joked her Oscar win was down to "luck" and "American hospitality" as she claimed the Best Supporting Actress honor on Sunday, April 25.
The South Korean actress sparked laughter among the attendees at the Los Angeles ceremony as she insisted there was no real competition between herself and her fellow nominees Maria Bakalova ("Borat Subsequent Moviefilm"), Glenn Close ("Hillbilly Elegy"), Olivia Colman ("The Father"), and Amanda Seyfried ("Mank").
After accepting the award from Brad Pitt, she quipped that everyone was "forgiven" for frequently mispronouncing her name, and explained, "I'm living in the other part of the world, I usually watch on television the Oscars event... Me being here by myself, this I cannot believe. Let me pull myself together!"
"Thank you to the Academy members who voted for me, thank you to the wonderful 'Minari' family...," she said. "I don't believe in competition, how can I win over Glenn Close? I've been watching her, so many performances... All the five nominees, we are the winners for different movies, we play different roles, we cannot compete."
"I had a little bit of luck, I think. I'm luckier than you! Also maybe American hospitality for the Korean actor, I'm not sure."
The 73-year-old then thanked her family, before dedicating her win to the late Kim Ki-Young, one of the first directors she ever worked with.
"I'd like to thank my two boys who make me go out and work. This is the result because mummy worked so hard," she smiled. "I'd like to direct this to my director, Kim Ki-Young, who was a very genius director. We made a movie together, the first movie, and he'd be very happy if he was still alive."
