Sandra Oh
Sandra Miju Oh is a Canadian actress born on July 20, 1971 in the suburb of Nepean in Ottawa, Ontario. Sandra’s mother, Young-Nan and father, Joon-Soo (John) both emigrated from South Korea to study biochemistry and economics respectively. Growing up in Nepean, Sandra and her family were active in the tight-knit local Korean community. “Wherever Koreans are, they set up a church,” Sandra recalls of her childhood. “There weren’t many of us, maybe 10 families, so [ours] was like a church in the basement of a church.”
Now an award-winning actress, Sandra began her acting and performing career as a child. At the age of 4, her parents enrolled her in ballet classes, “in hopes of correcting her natural pigeon-toed gait,” however her ballet classes would spark an unintended love for performing at a young age. When Sandra turned 10 years old she began appearing in plays, and after only five years she begin booking professional gigs for theatre, television, and commercials.
When it came time to apply for college, it was expected that the honours high school student, who had been highly influenced by her parents with academic backgrounds, would accept an academic scholarship to a prestigious school and study law or medicine as her brother and sister did. Sandra, however, had a much different plan in mind, from the career path that her parents had in mind for her. Sandra accepted an offer to attend the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal despite her parents, and paid her own tuition through school.
Her break-through role came shortly after she graduated from the National Theatre School of Canada in 1993 where she beat-out over 1,000 others who auditioned for the role of Evelyn Lau in The Diary of Evelyn Lau. The director of the television show at the time remembers her audition clearly. She came in for the audition and asked if she could focus herself for a moment, then proceeded to lay on the floor for five minutes. “I thought it was remarkable that at 19 she had the confidence – and audacity – to do that” exclaimed the director. In her debut performance, that she considers the best film she has ever done, Sandra won a Gemini Award (Canada’s equivalent of the Emmy Award) nomination and the 1994 Cannes FIPA d’Or for Best Actress.
Following The Diary of Evelyn Lau, Sandra appeared in and came to prominence in a number of different movies and television shows including the Canadian film, Double Happiness which received critical acclaim praising Sandra Oh of her warm performance. She also received critical acclaim for her appearance as Rita Wu in six seasons of the HBO comedy series Arliss, where she received an NAACP Image Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series. In 2003, Sandra married director Alexander Payne, who cast her in his small, independent film titled Sideways. The movie became a surprise hit and Sandra was nominated for five Academy Awards. Unfortunately, her marriage to Alexander Payne did not fare well, and the two split and finalized their divorce in 2007.
Her successful performance in Sideways helped her land a starring role in the medical drama Grey’s Anatomy where she played Christina Yang. Sandra would play Christina Yang for ten full seasons from 2005 to 2013 before announcing her leave from the show at the Season 10 finale. Her co-star in Grey’s Anatomy, Chandra Wilson said “I’ve never met an actress as conscious, as analytical, as Sandra. She thinks about every word coming out her mouth.” Sandra was nominated for five Emmy Awards as Christina Yang in Grey’s Anatomy and won a Golden Globe in 2006 for Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role in a Television Series.
After leaving Grey’s Anatomy, Sandra took a break from acting and later took on a number of roles that included the play Death and the Maiden and a few films including Window Horses, an animated feature film, Tammy, and Catfight. On July 8, 2013 Sandra received the key to the City of Ottawa from current Mayor Jim Watson saying “we are proud to call her Ottawa’s own, and have her serve as a role model to aspiring young performing artists in Ottawa and around the world.”