Chloé Zhao also enters Oscar history books as the first woman to be nominated in four categories in a single year
Former star of The Walking Dead Steven Yeun landed an Oscar nomination as Best Actor for his performance in the Korean-American immigrant drama, Minari. It's a historic moment as Yeun is the first Asian American to achieve this feat. Yeun was also nominated in the same category for the Screen Actors Guild, although he was snubbed at the Golden Globes. Asian Americans had won an Oscar before but in the Best Supporting category: Haing S. Ngor (The Killing Fields, 1985) and Miyoshi Umeki (Sayonara, 1957).
In what is a diverse list, Yeun's fellow nominees include Chadwick Boseman and Riz Ahmed, a British actor of Asian descent. Notably too, Minari is also nominated for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for veteran actress Yuh-jung Youn; she's the first actress from South Korea to be an Oscar nominee.
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Meanwhile, Chloé Zhao continues a hot streak by picking up a nomination for Best Director, the first Asian-American woman to do so. She also snagged nominations for Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing and Picture, the first woman to have four nominations in a single year, and all of them for Nomadland.
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Mank, a Netflix original movie about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz working on his Citizen Kane screenplay, lead the pack with 10 nominations.