Hollywood
Actress Stephanie Hsu ‘didn’t see’ herself being Oscar nominated
Despite all the praise for Hsu’s performance in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, the actress didn’t expect an Oscar nomination.
Actress Stephanie Hsu received an Oscar nomination for her role as Joy Wang in ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’. While this wasn’t a surprise for some, Hsu said that she “didn’t see” it coming.
The reason is because Asian representation within Oscar nominations is typically scarce.
Hsu told Good Morning America: “I don’t think I would have believed you if you told me that I was going to be nominated for an Oscar.
“You know, I think growing up, I just didn’t see many people like me being nominated for Oscars at all,” she added. “And so sometimes I think dreams feel so far away that you can’t even dream them.”
The actress recently took home the Independent Spirit Award and was also nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award, Critics Choice Movie Award and many more.
She shares the Best Supporting Actress category with Angela Bassett (Black Panther: Wakanda Forever), Hong Chau (The Whale), Kerry Condon (The Banshees of Inisherin), and fellow co-star Jamie Lee Curtis.
Asian representation in film
As ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ continues to sweep up awards season, Hsu reflects on the impact this will have on the future of Asian representation in film.
“Growing up, I just, you know – it cannot be stressed enough that if you see it, you can believe it,” Hsu went on. “And we just didn’t see it. James Hong didn’t see it at 94 years old, Michelle didn’t see it, Ke didn’t see it.
“We’ve been making this space for ourselves at the same time and so I think the most special thing about all these nominations and getting to be nominated together is that we’re breaking all these records for the Asian community and getting to make space so that younger versions of ourselves never have to thing, ‘Oh it’s not possible’,” she concluded.
Hsu’s acting history
Prior to ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, Hsu has starred in films like ‘Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings’ and ‘Set It Up’.
Additionally, she’s appeared in television shows like ‘Awkwafina Is Nora from Queens’, ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’ and ‘Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt’.
Hsu has also been featured on Broadway in musicals like ‘Be More Chill’ (2015-2019) and ‘Spongebob the Musical’ (2016-2017).