Yuh-jung Youn Got Flirty With Brad Pitt As She Made History As The First Korean Actor To Win An Oscar
As promised, the 2021 Academy Awards were not like the usual show, what with Steven Soderbergh giving you a high-budget Oscar fever dream sponsored by Expedia.com commercial realness from Union Station. But there was one custom that carried over from previous ceremonies, and that was the time-honored tradition of someone giving a really good acceptance speech. Lots of speeches were good, but then there was Minari’s Yuh-jung Youn, who alternated between gracious, humble winner and roastmaster general. She also got a little cute with Best Supporting Actress presenter Brad Pitt, both onstage and back in the press room after her award was presented.
It could be said that 73-year-old Yuh-jung Youn was this year’s awards season darling since she absolutely crushed every single acceptance speech and appearance she made. When she was announced as the winner of the Best Supporting Actress category, she made history as the first Korean actor to win an Oscar. She’s also only the second Asian woman to ever win the Best Supporting Actress award (the previous winner was Japanese actress Miyoshi Umeki, who won in 1958). Since it was a historic win for Yuh-jung, she could have kept it serious and talked about how meaningful the award is. And she did that, while also thanking the Academy and noting that she didn’t necessarily feel like she won over the other nominees, because everyone’s roles were so different and no one was competing against each other. But she also cracked jokes about people pronouncing her name wrong, having more luck than the other nominees, shouting out her two sons who “make her go out and work,” and finally getting to meet Brad Pitt.
Best Supporting Actress Winner Yuh-Jung Youn's acceptance speech was hysterical. Watch the full thing: https://t.co/sdgeoBK7lX #Oscars pic.twitter.com/AOaRzPqT1k
— ABC News (@ABC) April 26, 2021
And because winners and presenters get to hang out backstage with each other, Yuh-jung was given more time with Brad. Or rather, previous Best Supporting Actor winner Brad Pitt was blessed to remain in Oscar-winner Yuh-jung’s presence for just a bit longer. Brad escorted her backstage, which was a traditional presenter-winner pairing, but also a coincidence since Brad’s Plan B productions produced Minari. And Yuh-jung kept the party going in the press room, like laughing at one reporter’s dumb question about what Brad smelled like. Come on, redundant. You know he smells like fresh 40 volume highlight developer cream and the beach.
Youn Yuh-jung really said ~I am not leaving the #Oscars without walking on the arm of Brad Pitt thank you very much~ 👑 https://t.co/MfC31dsSVo pic.twitter.com/1bKhyhsAQe
— E! News (@enews) April 26, 2021
Yuh-Jung Youn answers a question backstage at the #Oscars about what Brad Pitt smells like: "I didn't smell him, I'm not dog." https://t.co/eR4Irl6egK pic.twitter.com/VWcpU2ggqH
— Variety (@Variety) April 26, 2021
She also made sure to remind everyone she’s not some ingénue newcomer, and that she’s had an extensive career before she appeared in Minari. It is her first Oscar nomination and win, but she’s been acting in South Korea since the early 1970s and is a two-time Grand Bell Award winner (which is the highest acting honor in Korea).
Yuh-jung’s Oscar win was a historic one, and I’m sure it’s one that people will be asking her about for a long time. But there is one downside to it. Because now that she’s had such close contact with Brad Pitt, it’s all over for her personal life now. The tabloids are absolutely going to dissect every frame of that clip of her walking backstage with Brad so they can blow it up into months worth of love-triangle gossip drama. I can see the magazine covers now. “Hot New Actress Yuh-Jung Seen Tenderly Touching Brad’s Elbow, And JEN IS FURIOUS WITH JEALOUSY!”
Pic: Wenn.com