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Youn Yuh-jung

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Youn Yuh-jung in 2016

Youn Yuh-jung (born June 19, 1947) is a South Korean actress who is internationally best known for her role as Soon-ja in Minari (2020). Her critically acclaimed portrayal of Soon-ja in the film made her the first Korean actress to win a Screen Actors Guild Award, Indie Spirit Award, British Academy Film Award, and the Academy Award, as well as the first to be nominated for a Critics' Choice Movie Award, all in the Best Supporting Actress category.

Quotes

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  • The award doesn’t mean nothing to me. My reward is getting new jobs, new projects—that’s my reward. Of course, that moment when you receive the award, you’ll be very happy. You could be very happy in the moment. But I’m a very practical person and a very realistic person. If I get a new job, that’s my reward.
  • We are all human beings—the same human beings. Don’t categorize that you are yellow, you are white, you are Black, and white is better than yellow or Black or any other skin color. That’s stupid things to compare. We are all different and beautiful.
  • When I watch the movie, I don’t want to learn anything. I just enjoy it. So whatever they see, they can see [from] a different angle. Some people could understand the mother’s part, or the father’s part, or the grandma’s part—it’s a free country. You can feel whatever you feel like to do.
  • When some project comes from America, people in Korea think I admire Hollywood, No, I don't admire Hollywood. The reason I keep coming is because if I come to the States and work, maybe I'm able to see my son one more time. That’s from the bottom of my heart.
  • I also told him [ Brad Pitt ] to come to Korea. He promised that he will. But I don’t really believe the words of Americans. Their vocabulary is so fancy. He said my performance was very respectable and whatnot, but I’m old. I don’t fall for those words.
  • Second-generation Asian Americans think they are Americans but in the eyes of Americans, they don’t look American. There must be a dilemma like that.
  • Sorry to tell you, because I’m usually working in the Korean industry, not knowing this kind of award. I didn’t even expect having awards from America. I’m living on the other side of the world so to me, first, what’s happening to me? I don’t know. But when we made this film, we didn’t expect this warm welcoming. We just made it together, just like family. So I’ve been numb.
  • My two sons are Korean Americans living in the states. My son living in LA, he is worrying about me coming to the states for the Oscars because you might get hurt on the street or something like that. Who knows? You’re an old woman. They’re aiming old woman. Can’t you have security guard or something? That’s terrible. He’s worrying about me just being old woman getting attacked.
  • With age, what happens is you become freer, in a way, and more relaxed. You don’t have the weight of responsibility. I can actually step back and enjoy, and also be more forgiving. I’m very frank about myself and in all situations. It sometimes has been a help and sometimes been a distraction in this career. Usually, I tried never to have interviews when I was working in Korea because they would misunderstand or misinterpret me, so I was afraid to have public interviews. Here in the United States, I can do more interviews, but it is more an issue of language, of my English.
  • Usually, actors and actresses fall in love with theater or film, and study and learn so they can be successful, but that was not the case with me. I bumped into acting. I fell into it. So that’s why I tried to practice a lot, trying to prepare before performances, because I felt like I was not ready like they were. I had to do more. They had prepared their whole lives to be an actor. Me, I was just looking for a part-time job and I wound up being an actress. That’s why I started that habit, and I’m really grateful now that I’ve always done that. They say practice makes you perfect. That is something I really strongly believe in. As I went through my career, I found if I read lines over and over, I don’t even know how many times I’d read them, but the more I read and memorize, the more different ways I would find to play the role. That’s why I do it over and over. Some people think it’s stupid, but no. To me, it’s the best way to learn a character.
  • I’m really enjoying quarantine, because I can rest. I don't have to see anybody. I can just stay home 24 hours a day and stay in bed, my favorite place.
  • If somebody did something bad to me or was rude to me, I will never forget. But if somebody's nice to me, I will also never forget. This means people think I'm a very dangerous woman who never forgets.
  • I practice a lot for a role to memorize the lines thoroughly. Some people think the line is not important, but to me it's very important. That line for that role is the character’s thinking and her attitude and her everything. So if I memorize it thoroughly, I can just play it this way or that way freely. That's my mission. On set I always have my script. And my cigarette.
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