Chloé Zhao, Youn Yuh-jun, Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson won big last night.
Last night’s Academy Awards saw a series of historic firsts, particularly for women of colour in Hollywood.
Chloé Zhao took home the Oscar for Best Directing for her film Nomadland. With this win, she becomes the first woman of colour and the first Asian woman to take home the award for best director.
Additionally, Zhao is the second female director to win that accolade, 11 years after Kathryn Bigelow won the Oscar for The Hurt Locker.
In her acceptance speech, Zhao spoke about how when she was a child in China, she used to memorise phrases with her father as part of a game. One of the phrases, “People at birth are inherently good”, stuck with her throughout her life.
“Even though sometimes it might seem like the opposite is true, I have always found goodness in the people I met, everywhere I went in the world,” Zhao said.
“This award is for anyone who has the faith and the courage to hold onto the goodness in themselves, and to hold onto the goodness in each other.”
For the first time in more than a decade — and only the second time in history — a woman has won the Oscar for best director: Chloé Zhao. https://t.co/KcgLaiUeuL pic.twitter.com/MXxoQ8V7gb
— Variety (@Variety) April 26, 2021
Elsewhere in the awards ceremony, history was made in the category for Best Makeup and Hairstyling. Mia Neal and Jamika Wilson became the first Black women to win the award for their work on Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.
During her acceptance speech, Neal said: “I know one day it won’t be unusual or ground-breaking. It will just be normal.”
'Thank you to our ancestors who put the work in, were denied, but never gave up.' — Watch the moment that two Black women made history by winning the Academy Award for best hair and makeup in 'Ma Rainey's Black Bottom'#oscars pic.twitter.com/vvNZ9gZnsi
— NowThis Impact (@nowthisimpact) April 26, 2021
Youn Yuh-jung also made history last night, as she became the first Korean actor to win an Academy Award for her performance in Minari.
In her speech, Youn charmingly corrected Brad Pitt, who mispronounced her name as he announced her win:
“As you know, I’m from Korea, and actually my name is Youn Yuh-jung and in most of Europe, people call me ‘Yoh Yun’ and some of them call me ‘Yuh Yun’ but tonight you are all forgiven.”
https://twitter.com/TheAcademy/status/1386549886955319303/photo/1
Youn joked that her win was a result of “American hospitality”, before giving a shout-out to her two sons.
“This is the result because Mommy worked so hard!” she said.
