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In 2020, the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress was won by a Chinese-American, she is the actress Okafina, on the podium, she said incoherently, saying that she had never expected such a situation.
Unexpectedly, not only her, but also thousands of viewers, as the first Asian Golden Globe Award queen, not only her identity was discussed, but also her appearance was attacked miserably, and even some netizens said bluntly: "Ugly like this, how did you become an actor?" ”
So, what has she experienced from the object of ridicule to the high-profile film queen?
Today let's walk into the story of Okafina.
History of fame
Okafina was born in New York on June 2, 1988, and her grandfather opened a Chinese restaurant in Queens, New York. When she was four years old, her Korean mother unfortunately died of pulmonary hypertension, and it was her Chinese father and grandmother who raised her.
The early death of her mother made her know how to cherish, and it made her learn to be strong. Later, she said in an interview that she never showed her sadness and vulnerability in front of her family, and when she missed her mother, she always cried secretly alone.
In the face of a grieving family, she is eager to use her own strength to help everyone get out of the haze of her mother's death.
She became sensitive and well-behaved, always able to please her relatives and amuse everyone in funny ways, and in her company, the family gradually raised their smiles again, and "performance" and "strong" were like two seeds, which were buried in her heart since then and gradually took root.
In middle school, Okafina reversed the "stereotype" that "Asian students are school bullies" and was a troublemaker who caused the teacher a headache. Grades are always C,away from class, smoking, drinking, and talking weird in class. She said, "I'm the clown in my class." ”
As she grew up, she also felt inferior and confused because she was "out of place", saying: "I don't feel like I belong anywhere. But she doesn't want to be alone, so in order to attract attention, she still makes all kinds of strange moves at school and "sensationalizes", but she is still isolated from mainstream social circles because of her Asian face.
At the age of 16, she gave herself a stage name: Awkwafina, derived from the English word Awkward, meaning "embarrassing, embarrassing."
On The Allen Show, she also teased the stage name: "I always thought I was a weird girl. Maybe one day, I'll change my name from Awkwafina to Awkward! ”
Fortunately, grandma has always accompanied her, telling her from an early age: "Gender does not affect your value, Asian women are strong, not docile characters who only work in orchards." ”
Such a strong Okafina also liked music.
It is understood that at the age of 11, she began practicing trumpet, and subsequently, she entered LaGuardia High School in New York to study classical music and jazz. By chance, hip-hop music attracted Okafina, and she began writing garage rock. At that time, she often went to the park with her friends to sing raps, bought her own old-fashioned hand tape recorders, microphones and blank tapes, and returned to her bedroom to record.
In 2012, she released a single with bold performance and avant-garde lyrics that quickly made the MV's network hits quickly exceed 4 million, which also made her explode overnight, but because of such a bold move, she lost her job as a public relations assistant, but later she said that she never regretted her decision, she said: "This is the biggest adventure of my life so far." ”
After gaining some fame, she didn't stop at writing songs and tried to write books in the years that followed.
She originally thought that these would make her an internet celebrity at most, but what she did not expect was that all her works attracted a producer, Seth Logan, who found her and invited her to audition for the comedy "Neighbor Wars 2", and since then, Okafina's acting career has officially begun and has been out of control.
In 2018 alone, she has two commercial blockbusters released one after another: "Hidden from the Sea: Beauty" co-starring with Cate Blanchett, Sandra Bullock, Rihanna and other goddesses; the other is the first all-Asian cast film produced by a major Hollywood film manufacturer in 25 years after "Happy Luck Club".
Film critics said that although the role she played in it was only a friend of the heroine, her performance in "Picking Gold" can be described as brilliant. She is both funny and insightful, but also always clever and sharp to point out the truth.
The director of "Picking Gold" once said that the role played by Okafina is very important, and when it is performed, the play is revitalized, and if it is smashed, the play is mixed.
It turns out that her performance is indeed remarkable, so that after the film was launched, it received a lot of praise, this kind of acting skills, so that she won the 21st Teen Choice Awards Best Comedy Film Actress and the 28th MTV Movie Awards Best Comedy Performance and Best Breakthrough Performance and other 11 nominations, in the same year, she was selected by Entertainment Weekly as "2018 Entertainment Person of the Year".
With the glory added, she naturally quickly became one of the hottest Asian actresses after Liu Yuling.
Appearance controversy
However, after she became famous, she did not take on the role like crazy, she once said that despite the explosion, there were still many people who did not know her, and even recognized her as another Asian actor.
To this end, she carefully chose the script, which was bound to show her personal characteristics in the film and let everyone clearly call out her name.
So she chose "Don't Tell Her" from all the scripts, which tells the story of a Chinese girl who grew up in New York and returns to her hometown because of her grandmother's cancer, which leads to a series of discussions about Chinese and Western ethics and cultural identity.
It's also a rare film starring an Asian woman and a creative director.
In addition, because Orafina and the protagonist of the film have the same life experience, so during the filming, she also injected all the true feelings into this female character, and paid with all her heart, not only in exchange for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress, but also allowed her to get high praise from the American media who has always been an Asian viper, and the foreign media said: "Okafina's performance is extremely infectious, directly hitting the depths of people's hearts." ”
But after taking the film, she exchanged it for being scolded by most people as ugly, and even some compatriots said that she was "detrimental to the image of Chinese descent". Another person directly attacked him personally, saying: "The old lady has a baby."
This kind of unbearable language, anyone who hears it feels indignant, but Okafina does not care about these verbal attacks, she claims that she has always understood that what she is most attractive to is never her appearance, but her own ability, she said: "For me, 'women' means that she has been reminded all her life that they can't do anything, they don't deserve anything, but today, we have shown that women can do more." 」 ”
She's not just talking about it, she's backed by the American fashion scene, and in 2019, big-name magazines like Time and The Hollywood invited her to shoot covers, and one of the magazines praised her as "a force representing the future of Hollywood and one of the next most influential people." ”
In addition to acting and singing, she is also an excellent stand-up comedian, and in 2020, she appeared on the stage of "Saturday Night Live" as a host, and it is reported that she is also the second Asian woman to host the show after Liu Yuling.
Eighteen years ago, when her idol, Liu Yuling, was the host of Saturday Night Live, Okafina was stranded outside the door because she didn't have a ticket, but that day also meant a lot to her, completely changing her view of what an Asian woman can achieve.
Years later, in the opening remarks of "Saturday Night Live", Okafina said: "Standing here is like a dream, I never thought it would come true, Liu Yuling thank you for opening this door for me." 」 I used to be unable to get in without a ticket, and today, 18 years later, I'm standing here to host the show. I love you, Lucy. ”
In addition, in the past two years, films created by Asian pandirists such as "Picking Gold" and "Don't Tell Her" have begun to be seen and appreciated by Western audiences.
Okafina believes it's a sign that the film industry is moving in a better direction, and these films have opened a door for Asians in Hollywood.
"I want to prove to young Asian girls that you can be anyone, even if you may not have seen any example, you can do things that no one has yet done," Okafina said. ”
Still, Okafina remains wary: without sustained and adequate support, the film and television industry's sense of inclusion and diversity will fade.
She said: "I've been worried about that. I wonder if this is a trend and we don't want anything to be trendy, especially people. ”
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If Liu Yuling let Hollywood know a woman and sexy goddess. Then Okafina let Hollywood see a unique temperament, confident and flamboyant Chinese cool girl, hoping that this independent and confident actress can bring us more and better works.