'Minari' star Youn Yuh-jung nominated for best actress at Gotham Awards

Youn Yuh-jung / Courtesy of Hook Entertainment

By Kwak Yeon-soo

Youn Yuh-jung, who stars as loving grandmother in director Lee Isaac Chung's “Minari,” has been nominated for Best Actress at the 30th Gotham Awards, which honors independent films.

The other nominees in the category are Jessica Buckley (“I'm Thinking of Ending Things”), Nicole Beharie (“Miss Juneteenth”), Carrie Coon (“The Nest”) and Frances McDormand (“Nomadland”). The ceremony is scheduled for Jan. 11, 2021.

“Minari” tells the story of a Korean-American family that moves to rural Arkansas in the 1980s, as Jacob (Steven Yeun) and his wife Monica (Han Ye-ri) attempt to grow crops on the land that they've purchased. In the film, Youn plays the grandmother Soon-ja, who moves to America to live with Jacob's family.

The film has garnered tremendous critical acclaim, winning both the Grand Jury Prize and the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

In October, it won the Ensemble Award and Audience Award for Best Narrative Film at the Middleburg Film Festival. It has also been nominated for the feature film section at Spain's 65th Valladolid International Film Festival.

A scene from the film “Minari” / Courtesy of Busan International Film Festival

The family drama will continue its expansion going into Oscar nominations, currently scheduled for March 15, 2021. If any of the “Minari” actors are nominated, it will be the first time the Academy has nominated any Korean performers in an acting category. The ceremony will be held on April 25, 2021.

“Minari,” which was unveiled at this year's Busan International Film Festival, will hit local theaters in the first half of 2021.

Youn, one of Korea's most in-demand film and TV actors with a career spanning five decades, is continuing to expand her screen presence in Hollywood.

Following her appearance in the first season of “Sense8,” she will be taking the lead role in “Pachinko,” an upcoming Apple TV series based on the novel of the same name. Written by Min Jin Lee, “Pachinko” was the 2017 National Book Award finalist besides being named one of the 10 best books of 2017 by The New York Times.

It is described as a historical novel that chronicles the lives and dreams of four generations of a Korean immigrant family in Japan.

Youn's role in the eight-episode series hasn't been unveiled yet, but she will star alongside actor Lee Min-ho, who plays Hansu, a merchant who embarks on an illicit romance that leads him into dangerous situations.

The big-budget series will be feature Korean, Japanese and English languages and be filmed in Korea and Canada.