The first Asian woman to be nominated, Miyoshi Umeki, won a Best Supporting Actress award in 1957. Lee would win his second in 2012 with Life of Pi.
The first person of color to win Best Director was not until 2005, when Taiwanese-born Ang Lee won for his direction of Brokeback Mountain. Whether or not he should be considered Asian-American is the subject of much debate. That year, Russian-born Yul Brynner, who claimed to have a Mongol background, won for his lead role in The King and I. The Academy Awards were first held in 1929, but it wasn’t until 1957 that someone of Asian descent won an award. Of the 24 Academy Awards given to people from beyond the West, 12 were won by people with roots in Asia. ” In 2018, presenters Lupita Nyong’o and Kumail Nanjiani said, “We are the two actors you keep hearing about but whose names you have trouble pronouncing.” In 2017, Alessandro Bertolazzi, an award winner for make up and hairstyling, dedicated his award to “ all the immigrants. The hashtag #OscarsSoWhite became popular in 2015 to highlight the award show’s lack of diversity.
Ahmed is the first Muslim man to be nominated for a Best Actor award. Yeun is facing off against Riz Ahmed, the British-born son of Pakistani immigrants, who is nominated for his performance in The Sound of Metal. Yeun is the first Asian-American man nominated for the award, since Yul Brenner in the 1950s (and Brenner is questionable, but more on that below). The stellar line up of new faces includes Minari’s South Korean-born American producer, Christine Oh, up for an Oscar for Best Film, and Best Actor nominee Steven Yeun, also South Korean.