Yeri Han isn’t quite sure what’s happening to her. Not in this particular moment because she is on Zoom with GRAZIA and her translator from Los Angeles where she readies for Sunday’s 93rd annual Academy Awards, but since the success of Minari. “Being invited to the Oscars is surreal,” Han tells GRAZIA. “Once I step onto the red carpet, I think it will hit me. We are at the Oscars and our film has been recognized beyond our imagination.” Han is a South Korean indie-film and TV star who made her Hollywood debut in writer and director Lee Isaac Chung’s deeply personal and semi-autobiographical film, Minari. She plays Monica, a young Korean woman whose husband, Jacob, played by Steven Yeun, drags his wife and two small children to a stretch of unsettled farmland in rural Arkansas. “For many Koreans, and Americans too, our movie gives them an opportunity to think about their own lives. To be able to be a part of this movie in itself is such a grateful experience for me whether it received so many awards or not.”
Minari is up for six major awards of the night — Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Original Score, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay — so all eyes will be on the cast. Han still hasn’t decided on a final look. “I wonder if I can show it to you,” she says excitedly. She can’t, obviously, and instead she shows her nails on-screen. They’re neutral because she is still weighing her options. “I hope I don’t trip and fall,” Han said, laughing. “I’m mostly worried about that.” She hopes Youn Yuh-Jung (who played Monica’s mother in the film and is nominated for Best Supporting Actress) wins, and Steven Yeun, too. “Steven has done wonderful things for and in this movie,” she said. “He is a pioneer.” But mostly, Han said, she just hopes Asia gets acknowledged.
Han also credits the role with helping to understand the sacrifices parents often make to give their children a better life. “My parents were just like Monica and Jacob,” she explained. “They married very young. When I was younger, I couldn’t understand their lives but I’ve come to understand they were struggling, too. They had their own growing pains. Just like Noel in the movie, I’m the oldest daughter, too. I had to take care of my younger siblings. I was given responsibilities that could have been my parents’. Even though the relationship I have with my parents is not lovey-dovey and touchy-feely — maybe that’s the Korean way — I’m so grateful this movie gave me an opportunity to understand my parents better. It’s because of their love I grew up to be who I am.”
