We have taken the idea of Valentines Day over the years to celebrate Canadian women in various tributes, some more enlightened than others.
I want to take 2019 to focus on one particular Canadian woman whose story of perseverance and determination has finally won her rewards that she deserved many years ago.
Sandra Oh has done exceptionally well with her current TV show Killing Eve on BBC America and Bravo in Canada. Oh got an Emmy nomination but did win top honours from the Critics' Choice Television Awards, Golden Globes, and the Screen Actors Guild.
Fans of this blog know that Oh distinguished herself early in her career with her performances in Double Happiness and Last Night. Oh won a Genie for her role in Double Happiness and a Gemini for The Diary of Evelyn Lau.
Oh has also been in other great Canadian films such as Wilby Wonderful, Hard Candy, The Red Violin, Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity, Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming, and Meditation Park.
Sandra Oh host and winner at the 76th Golden Globes
IFC mistakes Canadian Sandra Oh as an American
She has been featured in popular U.S. films such as The Princess Diaries, Under The Tuscan Sun, Sideways, and Guinevere.
Oh also managed to have a successful TV career for 10 years as Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey's Anatomy with 5 straight Emmy nominations and also starred on Arliss.
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Yet until Killing Eve, Sandra Oh had been lost in the background. She played the lead in those Canadian classics Double Happiness and Last Night as well as the animated film Window Horses: The Poetic Persian Epiphany of Rosie Ming but rarely had the lead. Her first 5 Emmy nominations were for a supporting role. She played the best friend in Under The Tuscan Sun, Sideways.
I wondered for years why Hollywood didn't see what I saw. Then again, I've seen these Canadian films so I knew what Oh was capable of doing.
There were a few in Hollywood who wondered about Oh in leaving Grey's Anatomy. "Wasn't this the best Oh was going to find?" some may have wondered. If you hadn't seen Window Horses or Meditation Park, you might really have wondered where Oh went.
Oh is finally getting some very deserved recognition after 8 episodes of Killing Eve. The United States is finally getting to see what Canada has seen for some time: Oh can and should be the lead in projects. She has earned this and more.
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Season 2 of Killing Eve premieres April 7 at 8 pm Eastern on BBC America.
photos credit: Golden Globes/NBC
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