Sandra Oh Becomes First Asian Woman to Receive Lead Actress Emmy Nomination for Drama
Sandra Oh has made history as the first Asian woman to be nominated for an Emmy in the Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series category for her role in the BBC America series Killing Eve, Los Angeles Times writer Glenn Whipp reports on Twitter.
She’s among good company, too. The other women nominated in her category include Elisabeth Moss for The Handmaid’s Tale, Keri Russell for The Americans, Evan Rachel Wood for Westworld, Claire Foy for The Crown, and Tatiana Maslany for Orphan Black.
If you haven’t seen the show yet—and if so, what are you waiting for?—Killing Eve revolves around a bored MI5 officer in London (Oh) who wishes she could do more with her career than shuffle around papers and collect data at her desk. Her in-the-field dreams are soon granted when she becomes embroiled in a cat-and-mouse game with a British female assassin, and their mutual obsession with each other propels the eight-episode drama. But if you don’t like murders and violence, also know it’s one of the most fashionable shows of the year, too.
PHOTO: BBC AMERICA/AMC Networks
As Vanity Fair notes, Oh has had success with Emmy nominations in the past, so this isn’t her first rodeo with the honor. You might remember her years-long tenure as Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy, for which she received five consecutive supporting actress nominations. (She never won, sadly.)
Shockingly, if Oh were to win for Killing Eve at the September ceremony, she would become only the third Asian actor to take home an Emmy, according to Vanity Fair. The two previous winners of Asian descent are Archie Panjabi, who won a supporting actress Emmy in 2010 for The Good Wife, and Riz Ahmed, who won for lead actor in a drama in 2017, for The Night Of.