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A photo of Sandra Oh by Peabody Awards –

Top 10 Facts about Sandra Oh

Sandra Miju Oh is a Canadian American actress. She is best known for her starring roles as Rita Wu on the HBO comedy Arliss from 1996 to 2002, Dr Cristina Yang on the ABC medical drama series Grey’s Anatomy from 2005 to 2014 and Eve Polastri in the spy thriller series Killing Eve from 2018 to 2022.

She has received numerous accolades, including two Golden Globe Awards, four Screen Actors Guild Awards, and thirteen Primetime Emmy Award nominations. In 2019, Time magazine named Oh one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In the article are the top ten facts about Sandra Oh.

1. She is of Korean Origin and Asian descent

A photo of Sandra Oh by Jesse Grant –

Sandra Miju Oh was born in Nepean, Ontario, on July 20, 1971, the daughter of middle-class South Korean immigrants Oh Young-Nam, a biochemist, and Oh Junsu, a businessperson. Her parents had moved to the area in the early 1960s.

She has a brother, Ray, and a sister, Grace, and grew up in a Christian household, living on Camwood Crescent in Nepean, where she began acting and practising ballet at age four to correct her pigeon-toed stance. Growing up, Oh was one of the few youths of Asian descent in Nepean.

2. She preferred acting from an early age

Oh began acting and practising ballet at age four. At age ten, Oh played The Wizard of Woe in a class musical called The Canada Goose. In high school, she was elected student council president. She also played the flute and continued both her ballet training and acting studies, though she knew that she was not good enough to be a professional dancer.

Since she could not produce a professional dancer, Oh eventually focused on acting. She took drama classes, acted in school plays, and joined the drama club, where she took part in the Canadian Improv Games and Skit Row High, a comedy group.

She rejected a four-year journalism scholarship which was against her parent’s dream for her. She refused to join Carleton University to study drama at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal, paying her way.

3. All members of her family have master’s in their studies

A photo of Sandra Oh by Tabercil –

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Since her parents did not want her to join acting, Oh told her parents that she would try acting for a few years, and promised to return to university she failed in the circle. She dodged joining university which is the main reason that she is the only person in her family who doesn’t have a master’s in something.

Success came her way and going to university was soon becoming a forgotten story. Soon after graduating from the National Theatre School in 1993, she starred in a stage production of David Mamet’s Oleanna in London, Ontario.

In the same year, she won roles in biographical television films of two significant female Chinese-Canadians: as Vancouver author Evelyn Lau in The Diary of Evelyn Lau, where she won the role over more than 1,000 others who auditioned, and as Adrienne Clarkson in a CBC biopic of Clarkson’s life.

4. Sandra came to prominence in Korea after she was featured in Double Happiness

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Double Happiness is a 1994 Canadian drama film directed by Mina Shum and co-produced by the National Film Board of Canada. The film stars Sandra Oh as Jade Li, an actress struggling to assert her independence from the expectations of her Chinese Canadian family. Callum Keith Rennie also stars as Mark, Jade’s love interest.

Jade Li is a twenty-something Chinese-Canadian woman negotiating her wishes and those of her parents. The film received critical acclaim, with Roger Ebert praising Oh’s “warm performance”. Oh won the Genie Award for Best Actress for the role.

5. Sandra is the former wife of Alexander Payne

A photo of Alexander Payne by Harald Bischoff –

Constantine Alexander Payne is an American film director, screenwriter and producer. He is best known for the films Citizen Ruth (1996), Election (1999), About Schmidt (2002), Sideways (2004), The Descendants (2011), Nebraska (2013) and Downsizing (2017).

He is noted for his dark humour and satirical depictions of contemporary American society. Payne is a two-time winner of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, and a three-time nominee for the Academy Award for Best Director.

Payne married Canadian actress Sandra Oh on January 1, 2003, after dating her for three years and collaborating with her in Sideways. On March 12, 2005, a publicist announced their separation. The divorce was officially finalized on December 22, 2006, although the former couple took more than two years to settle their finances.

6. Sandra received the key to the city of Ottawa from Mayor Jim Watson in 2013

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In some countries, such as the United States, an ornamental key, the ‘key to the city’ is presented to esteemed visitors, residents, or others whom the city wishes to honour. This practice is a variation of the freedom of the city tradition.

It has a similar symbolic meaning which is evoking medieval walled cities, the gates of which would be guarded during the day and locked at night. The key symbolises the freedom of the recipient to enter and leave the city at will, as a trusted friend of city residents.

7. Sandra practices Vipassan膩

A photo of Sandra Oh by LGEPR –

Vipassan膩 is a quality of the mind developed in tandem with Buddhist practice. Vipassana is a way of self-transformation through self-observation. It focuses on the deep interconnection between mind and body. Vipassan膩 means insight. i.e When tranquillity is developed, the mind is developed hence passion is abandoned. When insight is developed discernment is developed which makes Ignorance abandoned.

Due to the fading of ignorance, there is discernment release. Oh, practices Vipassan膩, a Buddhist form of meditation. Her work in acting is informed by a loose creative collective that teaches “creative dream work”, which reportedly fuses Jungian dream analysis with method acting and aims to bring one’s “subconscious work into consciousness”.

8. Sandra has dual citizenship

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Oh’s parents are of Korean origin and Asian descent. She was born in Canada hence she is Canadian. She qualified to be as well an American citizen in 2018. This means that she has voting rights in both America and Canada. On the first anniversary of her citizenship, she discussed it while hosting Saturday Night Live and referred to herself as an “Asian-Canadian-American”.

9. Sandra was named an officer of the Order of Canada in 2022

A photo of Sandra Oh by Tabercil –

The Order of Canada is a Canadian state order and the second-highest honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the centennial of the Canadian Confederation, the three-tiered order was established in 1967.

It wa established as a fellowship that recognizes the outstanding merit or distinguished service of Canadians who make a major difference to Canada through lifelong contributions in every field of endeavour, as well as the efforts by non-Canadians who have made the world better through their actions. Oh was awarded the Order of Canada in June 2022.

10. Sandra is an activist

On March 22, 2021, Oh gave a speech at a Stop Asian Hate rally in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in response to the Atlanta spa shootings. She encouraged people to reach out to the Asian American community, stating that they were “very scared”. She said that she was proud to be Asian in the speech even though some people never got the chance to claim so.