Oh was nominated for her performance in the BBC series Killing Eve.
Sandra Oh, nominated for her performance as Eve Polastri in Killing Eve, has become the first Asian woman to be nominated for an Emmy for Lead Actress in a Drama. She has previously been nominated five times as a supporting actress for her work as Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy.
Killing Eve has been Oh’s biggest role since departing Grey’s in 2014, and the actress has spoken openly about the lack of roles and diminished expectations that colored the years in between.
In an interview with Vanity Fair, she noted that, when sent the script for Killing Eve, she originally thought she was meant to be reading for the part of a receptionist rather than the lead role. She also spoke about the importance of seeing nonstereotypical Asian characters and Asian representation in film and TV on the whole: “I’ll continue doing everything I can to fill something that I know you need right now, that we don’t yet have as a community.”
Hopefully, her nomination this year is a sign of continued momentum for more diverse representation on screen.