| |
Happygrrl of the Month:
Sandra Oh...
YOU WANTED TO KNOW
The Happygrrl of the Month title is given to a cool chick who exemplifies the true essence of being a Happygrrl. Which means that she possesses independence, a sense of humour, and a slightly neurotic side.
Our Happygrrl of the Month is…Sandra Oh.
You might remember Oh from last year's breakout hit, Sideways. You might remember her, more specifically, for her non-Oscar nomination, along with co-star Paul Giamatti, while everyone - from the key grips to the craft service people involved in this film - were tapped by this coveted prize. As tough, independent wine pourer Stephanie, Oh is right on target. Unfortunately, the clips of Oh in Sideways really do no justice to the scope of her role: upon finding out that Jack (Thomas Hayden Church) is married, she hits him with her purse and breaks his nose. Sassy! But she might as well be Lucy Liu in Play It to the Bone. Or Lucy Liu might as well be Stephanie, but instead of a purse, it's a whip.
Oh is also on ABC's new medical drama, "Grey's Anatomy." This came after her announced split to husband Alexandar Payne, who, along with Sideways, also directed Election and About Schmidt. Again, Oh plays a tough, independent woman with a no-nonsense attitude in "Grey's Anatomy." It's no coincidence that she gets to ride a motorcycle in both Sideways and "Grey's Anatomy"; just think of Stephanie finally getting her medical license and moving to Seattle. "Grey's Anatomy" marks Oh's first big foray into the American mainstream, and we say, it's about time.
The thirty-four year old Nepean, Ontario native (that's a suburb in Ottawa) began as a ballet dancer at the age of four, and moved onto theatre at ten. At Sir Borden High School, Oh was involved in the "Improv Games" competition and markedly stood out from her classmates. She moved on to The National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, Quebec, where her love of acting was cemented. Now, the only question would become whether Oh could really break into the Canadian film industry.
In 1993, a then twenty-something Oh was green-lighted to play the titular character in the CBC made-for-television biography, "The Diary of Evelyn Lau." As Lau, Oh played a fourteen-year-old poet who runs away from home and eventually slips into a life of drugs and prostitution. Oh's performance was so powerful that she earned a Gemini Best Actress nomination, and won a Best Actress statue at the 1994 Cannes FIPA d'Or. The kudos were a surprise to Oh, but if you've ever seen "The Diary of Evelyn Lau," you'll recognize that her raw power and screen presence were not the work of a fluke, but of a impassioned and charismatic actress.
Next came Double Happiness (1994), where Oh plays Jade Li, a first generation Chinese-Canadian who is trying to adhere to the title of the film - pleasing her old-fashioned parents (first happiness) while pursuing her own decidedly different dreams (second happiness). This time, Oh scored a Best Actress Genie for her acting. She went 0-for-2 when she starred in the ensemble piece, Last Night (1999), about a group of people who face the last six hours of their lives before the end of the world. She worked alongside notable Canadian director/actor Don McKellar and David Cronenberg, and was awarded another Best Actress Genie.
It was around this time that Oh's career became a little bit…stilted. She still earned roles in Canadian productions and on the stage, but nothing of note until her turn as Stephanie in Sideways. Oh moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to jump-start her career, and explained her career move to Jade Magazine: "The Hollywood paradigm does not exist in Canada. It is extremely difficult to get a film made in Canada, even more difficult to get cast when you're a woman and not white. Because there isn't a great amount of output, there are simply fewer opportunities for good work, for any work." The same can be said about the American film industry, if bit roles in Waking the Dead (2000), The Princess Diaries (2001), and Under The Tuscan Sun (2003) are any indication.
Although Oh's career seemed at a standstill, she still delivered the great performances she is so well known for, even if the movies that she did them in were not so well known. In Dancing At the Blue Iguana (2000), Oh's performance as stripper Jasmine was lauded by Roger Ebert, who said, "Sandra Oh, who goes out and does a striptease in front of the boy that she loves but doesn't think will accept her...there's a little tear that comes down while she's upside down on the pole and that's a very effective piece of acting." This seemingly insignificant praise of a mostly critic-panned film just goes to show the power of Oh's meticulous acting, even when the film might be falling apart around her.
Another cool thing about Oh, besides her acting chops, is that she's not afraid to tell it how it is. Oh has been very vocal about the lack of minority actors on the screen, and how that has affected aspiring actors who don't fit the mould. In an interview in the Toronto Sun to promote Last Night, Oh said, "I get that crap all the time [in Hollywood]: justify why [a minority actor] is up there on screen. But you don't have to justify anyone else in Last Night, because they're white. Here in Canada, I feel that I am not an issue, a fucking issue." In another interview, this time with Raygun Magazine, Oh condemned the industry. "If there's another fucking show or movie about New York and everyone's white, I'm gonna fucking die. That is so unacceptable." Luckily, the cast of "Grey's Anatomy" is a little more representative of the multi-cultural community of Seattle than the previous medical dramas that we've been presented with in the past.
The Korean actress has become a force in Hollywood to be reckoned with. At the peak of her career, Oh has nowhere to go but up. She's smart, she's savvy, she's ambitious, and she's consistently shown that she can act with the best of them, whether she's doing independent films or mainstream Hollywood fare. Now the only question will be whether Oh has time for Hollywood. ¤ C.Ho.