Chloé Zhao also enters Oscar history books as the first woman to be nominated in four categories in a single year
Former star of The Walking Dead Steven Yeun landed an Oscar nomination as Best Actor for his performance in the Korean-American immigrant drama, Minari. It's a historic moment as Yeun is the first Asian-American to achieve this feat. Yeun was also nominated in the same category for the Screen Actors Guild, although he was snubbed at the Golden Globes. Asian-Americans had won an Oscar before but in the Best Supporting category: Haing S. Ngor (The Killing Fields, 1985) and Miyoshi Umeki (Sayonara, 1957).
In what is a diverse list, Yeun's fellow nominees include Chadwick Boseman and Riz Ahmed, a British actor of Asian descent. Notably, too, Minari is also nominated for Best Picture and Best Supporting Actress for veteran actress Yuh-jung Youn; she's the first actress from South Korea to be an Oscar nominee.
(Related: 12 Asian Actresses Who Made in Big in Hollywood—and Why it's Significant Today)
Meanwhile, Chloé Zhao continues a hot streak by picking up a nomination for Best Director, the first Asian-American woman to do so. She also snagged nominations for Adapted Screenplay, Film Editing and Picture, the first woman to have four nominations in a single year, and all of them for Nomadland.
Mank, a Netflix original movie about screenwriter Herman J. Mankiewicz working on his Citizen Kane screenplay, lead the pack with 10 nominations.
