Awkwafina Makes History With Golden Globes Win
She became the first person of Asian descent to win in a lead actress film category at the Globes
Photo by Gregg DeGuire/Getty
Sunday night’s Golden Globes ceremony featured lots of surprises, but perhaps none so delightful as Awkwafina’s win for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, musical or comedy.
The actress and rapper won for her role in The Farewell, Lulu Wang’s 2019 film about a young American woman, Billi (Awkwafina), who returns with her family to China to bid adieu to their beloved matriarch Nai Nai, the only one of the bunch who has no knowledge of her terminal illness. Awkwafina is only the sixth Asian woman ever to receive nominations in this category, as CNN points out. Sandra Oh is the only performer of Asian descent to win more than once in any Golden Globes category: She won her second last year for Actress in TV Series, Drama for Killing Eve.
Awkwafina looked geniunely shocked when her name was called out, and went on to thank her own grandmother, mother and father in an endearing acceptance speech: “I told you I’d get a job, dad.”
Wang was not nominated in the Best Director category, nor was any other woman—this year’s directing slate was notably all white and all male. That means Little Women’s Greta Gerwig was also left off the ballot. Sam Mendes won for his World War I film 1917, which also won for Best Motion Picture, Drama, what’s considered to be the evening’s most coveted award. Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time in Hollywood won the award for Best Motion Picture, musical or comedy. Tarantino also won for Best Screenplay.