Sandra Oh Makes History at Golden Globes Tonight as First Asian Host

Actress nominated for her role in "Killing Eve," will co-host the awards show with Andy Samberg.

Golden Globes
Sandra Oh and Andy Samberg, hosted the 76th annual Golden Globes on Sunday. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)
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Sunday night’s Golden Globes will make history, as it will mark the first time that an Asian person will host one of the major U.S. acting awards shows. The groundbreaker in this case is Sandra Oh, longtime star of the ABC ensemble drama Grey’s Anatomy and currently starring in the BBC America thriller series Killing Eve, who will be co-hosting the show alongside Brooklyn 99‘s Andy Samberg.

Oh told NBC Nightly News that “it’s a moment for change.” Pointing to not only her groundbreaking role as host but the broad diversity of this year’s Golden Globes nominees, Oh said: “these are faces that I feel many people have been just so starved to see.”

As the NBC News report points out, minorities make up less than one third of characters in major Hollywood films, and Asians are represented in just over six percent of faces on the silver screen. But as this year’s blockbuster hit Crazy Rich Asians has shown—garnering two Golden Globes nominations itself—a more diverse cast can successfully tap into broader audiences that have previously been left wanting.

And Oh might have another reason to be celebrate tonight as well. She could bring home some hardware, as she’s been nominated in the Best Actress in a TV drama series category for her Killing Eve role as a MI5 case officer on the hunt for a psychopathic assassin.

Here is the full list of the 2019 Golden Globes nominees.

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