Awkwafina’s Historic Golden Globes Win

Nora Lum or popularly known as rapper and actor, Awkwafina made history on Sunday night at the 77^th Golden Globe Awards as the FIRST Asian-American to win the Best Actress In A Motion Picture-Musical or Comedy category for her role in “The Farewell”.

The movie directed by Lulu Wang featuring an Asian cast tells the story of a Chinese-American immigrant, Billi, an aspiring writer struggling with a cultural identity crisis who returns to China to spend time with her ailing grandmother while keeping the grim diagnosis, a secret from the latter.

“The Farewell” was also nominated for best foreign film which went to the film “Parasite”, a South Korean comedy thriller film. In fact, Awkwafina’s historic win was the only win for “The Farewell” at the Golden Globes.

Being her first nomination at the Golden Globes, Awkwafina was over the moon about her win. In her acceptance speech, Awkwafina expressed gratitude to the director, Lulu Wang – “…..most importantly, to Lulu Wang, our incredible director. You gave me this chance, the chance of a lifetime, and you taught me so much. And just filming this story, being with you, was incredible.”

The actress also dedicated a special message to her father, Wally – “I told you I’d get a job, Dad.”

According to HuffPost, Awkwafina recalls watching the Golden Globes “every year” growing up, and that “if I would have seen someone like me up there it would have been different.”

Awkwafina’s win and Sandra Oh, who won the Golden Globe Award last year for Best Actress in a Television Series –Drama as well as Constance Wu’s nomination for Best Lead Actress marks a refreshing recognition in terms of diversity in the international film industry.

Catch a glimpse of Awkwafina’s moving performance in the trailer of “The Farewell”:

*Featured image sourced from glamour.com