HOLLYWOOD INSIDER

Asian Power was on at Oscar Night

Published March 15, 2023 10:34 AM By JANET SUSAN R. NEPALES

Michelle Yeoh kicked ass! Ke Huy Quan broke ceilings! The Daniels flew! Everything Everywhere And All At Once! And “Naatu Naatu” was their song.

That was how it looked like at the 95th Academy Awards night on Sunday at the Dolby Theatre, when Asian actors dominated, shattered ceilings, broke through doors once closed to them, and everybody unabashedly cried with joy and happiness. You would too if you were Asian.

A number of the winners, led by Michelle Yeoh

, Ke Huy Quan, and The Daniels (directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert) of the absurdist comedy-drama "Everything Everywhere All at Once," not only won but made history.

Even India’s RRR movie original song “Naatu Naatu” set a historic milestone.

Golden Globe winner Yeoh, who won Best Actress in a Leading Role for her performance as Evelyn Wang in "Everything Everywhere All at Once" became the first Asian woman and first Malaysian to take home this award. It was her first Oscar nomination.

“This is actually a historical moment, and I have to thank The Academy for acknowledging, embracing diversity and true representation," Yeoh said backstage.

“I think this is something that we have been working so hard towards for a very long time, and tonight we freaking broke that glass ceiling. I Kung Fu'd it out and shattered it, and we need this because there are so many who felt unseen, unheard," she said.

"This is for the Asian community and anyone who has been identified as a minority. We deserve to be heard; we deserve to be seen; we deserve to have the equal opportunity so we can have a seat at table. That's all we're asking for. Give us an opportunity. Let us prove we are worth it.”

Asked whether there was a point in her life that she felt she had to step back from acting and what advice she would give to people who are afraid to take up space, the 60-year-old actress said, “You should never be afraid."

“I'm still here today. Finally, after 40 years, I get this. It just goes to show, we will win the battle. And that's what we're doing. So don't give up. Never give up. Because when you give up, then it's a loss. It's a total loss, right?"

“So, yes, don't let anybody put you in a box. Don't let anybody say, 'oh, you are past your prime, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.' No, because we are proud. We believe in what we do. We love what we do. So light that fire in your soul and stay on the path. Believe. Dare to dream. Because if you don't dream, it's impossible. Nothing is impossible. Look at me, I'm here.”

The former Miss Malaysia dedicated her historic win to her 84-year-old mom and "all the moms in the world because they are really the superheroes and without them, none of us would be here tonight. She is 84 and I am taking this home to her.”

According to Michelle, “The most important thing is my mother has always instilled in me confidence. Taught me about love. Taught me about kindness and compassion. I'm not very, very good at that at times."

Yeoh also went candid and said, "the recent thing that she asked me to do is don't wear pants to the Oscars. I think what mothers do is they're constantly reminding you to be better. And they do it with love and they do it because they really want you to be better so you have more opportunities, and you will have a better life. And that for them; is their ultimate goal.

In her acceptance speech, Yeoh said, “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching at home, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anybody ever tell you that you are past your prime.”

A huge win for inclusion and representation indeed. Yeoh’s fellow nominees were Cate Blanchett, Michelle Williams, Ana de Armas, and Andrea Riseborough.

Yeoh was only the second Asian woman to be nominated in this category, following Merle Oberon, who earned a nod in 1935 but passed herself as white and concealed the truth for the rest of her life.

Yeoh is the first openly Asian woman to receive the honor.

It took 21 years (since Halle Berry’s milestone triumph) for the second woman of color to win Best Actress and 95 years for the first Asian woman to get the Oscar statuette.

Meanwhile, Golden Globe winner Ke Huy Quan, who won Best Actor in a Supporting Role in his first Oscar nomination, for portraying Waymond Wang in "Everything Everywhere All at Once" became the first Vietnam native to receive the honor — only the second Asian since Haing S. Ngor to triumph in the category for "The Killing Fields" nearly 40 years ago.

The 51-year-old actor, who appeared in "The Goonies" and "Indiana Jones" and the "Temple of Doom," also dedicated his award to his 84-year-old mom. “She’s at home watching,” he said in his acceptance speech. “Mom, I just won an Oscar!”

He continued, “My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp, and somehow, I ended up here, on Hollywood’s biggest stage. They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it’s happening to me. This is the American dream.”

Quan's win is extra special, because it was his real name, Ke Huy Quan, that presenter Ariana (DeBose) read off the envelope. Previously, he went by the name Jonathan Ke Quan.

Backstage, Quan shared, "I remember, when it got really tough, my manager told me that maybe, you know, it would be easier if you were to have an American-sounding name. I was so desperate for a job that I would do anything.

“And it's insane that I at one point that I would, you know, try a different name, not the name that was given to me. But it can only show you how desperate I was to try to make things different," he said.

When he decided to try to get back to acting, he knew he had to use his real name. "When I decided to get back into acting, which was three years ago, the very first thing that I wanted to do was to go back to my birth given name, and tonight to see Ariana open that envelope and say ‘Ke Huy Quan,’ that was a really, really special moment for me," he said.

“And then immediately I was so emotional. But the first image that I had in my mind was my mom. My mom, who is the reason why I am in America, who is the reason why I have a better life, I have all these opportunities.

“As I said in my acceptance speech, she sacrificed so much. She had a great life where we came from, and she gave all that up so that all her children, there's nine of us, and every single one of them is so grateful to my parents. I hope they are proud of me.”

He won against his fellow nominees Brendan Gleeson, Judd Hirsch, Brian Tyree Henry, and Barry Keoghan.

Yeoh and Quan’s victory marked the first time in the Oscars’ history that two Asian actors, and for the same movie, triumphed in a single year. It’s also unprecedented that they won for portraying Mandarin Chinese and Cantonese fluent parts.

Jamie Lee Curtis, who won Best Actress in a Supporting Role for her performance as Deirdre Beaubeirdra in "Everything Everywhere All at Once," thanked her castmates and moviegoers who have supported her all these years. It was also her first Oscar nod.

She said in her acceptance speech, “To all of the people who have supported the genre movies that I have made for all of these years, the thousands and hundreds of thousands of people, we just won an Oscar together.”

She also gave a shoutout to her late parents, actors Janet Leigh and Tony Curtis.

“My mother and my father were both nominated for Oscars in different categories. I just won an Oscar.”

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, collectively known as The Daniels, won Best Director, Best Picture, and Best Original Screenplay in their first Oscar nominations in all the categories.

Both 35 years old, The Daniels are the youngest in the group of director nominees that included Steven Spielberg, 76, Todd Field, 59, Martin McDonagh, 52, and Ruben Ostlund, 48.

Scheinert thanked his parents “for not squashing my creativity when I was making really disturbing horror films or really perverted comedy films or dressing in drag as a kid, which is a threat to nobody.”

Kwan, who became the third winner of Asian descent to win a Best Director award after Chloe Zhao and Bong Joon-ho, said, “Scheinert is my confidence. He is the person who told me I was a storyteller before I believed it.” Kwan is also the first of Chinese descent to win (with Scheinert) the Best Original Screenplay.

Kwan said in his acceptance speech for Best Director, “We are all products of our context; we are all descendants of something or someone. I want to acknowledge my context – my immigrant parents – my father, who fell in love with movies because he needed to escape the world and thus passed that love of movies onto me. My mother, who is a creative soul who wanted to be a dancer, actor, and singer but could not afford the luxury of that life path and then gave it to me.”

He said when he accepted the Oscar for Best Picture, “This is for my dad, who like so many immigrant parents died young. And he is so proud of me not because of this (the Oscar statuette) but because we made this movie with what he taught me to do, which is…no one is more important than anyone else. And these weirdos right here (pointed at his beaming cast and fellow creatives) supported me in doing that. Wang Da Zhang, memory eternal.”

Scheinert and Kwan are the third directing duo to win an Oscar, following Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise for "West Side Story" in 1962 and Joel and Ethan Coen for "No Country for Old Men" in 2008.

And then there was RRR movie’s “Naatu Naatu” song from India which won Best Original Song and became the first song from an Indian film to win in this category. The song, which also won a Golden Globe, was composed by M.M. Keeravani and lyricist Chandrabose.

Filipina actress, Dolly de Leon who became the first Filipina actress to get a Golden Globe nod for her portrayal of Abigail in "Triangle of Sadness," attended her first Oscar with some members  of the cast of the film with Oscar-nominated director Ruben Ostlund (Original Screenplay, Directing).

De Leon looked sharp in a black Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafin suit, accented by red Chris Habana jewels, and red gloves by Vex clothing and red Manolo Blahnik shoes.

Before her trek to the red carpet, we asked De Leon what she was looking forward to in her first Oscar journey. She replied, “Mostly I’m so happy to be reunited with the cast, crew, producers, and our director Ruben. And to be able to share this very special and rare moment with them is mind-blowing. Nag-shoot lang kami two years ago and now we’ll be reunited in a place where we are recognized. It’s a dream come true.”

After the Oscar, de Leon told us, “It was a great way of reuniting with the cast and creative team of Triangle of Sadness. I’ve missed them so much and love them so dearly and this night served as our despedida as it closes our journey with our film. It was the best way to end the wild ride.”

She added that she was excited to talk to Sandra Oh, Allison Williams and Jenny Slate at the Oscars.

Turning heads as well on the red carpet was no less than Nobel Peace Prize-winning Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai who was looking elegant in a Ralph Lauren hooded silver sequined gown. 

The 25-year-old was a favorite at the Dolby Theatre as award-winning actresses Yeoh and Curtis dropped by her seat to say hello and talk with her.

One of the most memorable parts of the evening for me was when Oscar host Jimmy Kimmel asked Malala the mundane question, “As the youngest Nobel Prize winner in history, I was wondering, do you think Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine?”

And to which the smart Malala simply responded, “I only talk about peace.”

There was no slapping incident, no Tom Cruise, and no James Cameron at the 95th Oscars night.

Only Cocaine Bear and Jenny the Donkey made special appearances. — LA, GMA Integrated News

View on GMA News