Youn Yuh Jung is a South Korean-born actress who in her nearly 50 years, and with an acclaimed career, has acted in more than eighty films. In the 1970s, she was author Kim Ki-young’s muse, moved to the United States and returned to South Korea in the 1980s. Since then, she became an iconic with a series of roles that shattered the clichés of adult women in South Korean films. She is often referred to as the "Meryl Streep" of South Korea. Some of her outstanding performances are Woman of Fire (1971), a role for which she won Best Actress at the Sitges Film Festival; The Housemaid (2010), The Taste of Money (2012), Sense8 (2015) and The Bacchus Lady (2016).
Minari's director, Lee Isaac Chung, knew he needed an actress with strong nuances to play Soonja, the grandmother of the family, as even though she is a character that starts in a comedy way, she goes to deep places thus impacting her entire family. This is why he thought Youn Yuh Jung would do it perfectly and he wasn't wrong as the actress managed to shine in the role. At the moment, she has been nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Critics’ Choice Awards, BAFTA and Film Independent Spirit Awards. It surely bodes well for the Academy Award nominations.
Young actor Alan S. Kim, who plays Soonja's grandson David, is the one who at first refuses to share time - and his room - with his grandmother and thus they automatically become rivals. To David, Soonja didn't seem like a "real" grandmother as she doesn't bake cookies and she isn’t warm-hearted, but instead she amuses herself by teasing her own grandson and is very foul-mouthed. However, over the course of the story, he will discover that they have much more in common than he thinks: they are both rebellious spirits, they are very vulnerable, and they are fundamental parts of the family. The grandmother connects with the family from where they come from and David is the one who shows them what they don't yet see in their future. A really special connection is established between them.
Stay tuned to find out when this beautiful story premieres!
