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Awkwafina – 5 things to know about the Golden Globes winner snubbed by the Oscars

Awkwafina, the first Asian-American to win best actress at the Golden Globes. Photo: Instagram
Awkwafina, the first Asian-American to win best actress at the Golden Globes. Photo: Instagram

Awkwafina made history as the first Asian-American to win a lead actress trophy at the Golden Globes, for her role in Lulu Wang’s The Farewell – but failed to even get a nomination at the coming Academy Awards

Awkwafina just made history by winning the best actress in a musical or comedy award at the Golden Globes, for her role in the The Farewell making her the first woman of Asian descent to ever win a Globe in a lead actress category. Despite this coup, a week later she was unceremoniously snubbed by the Oscars, with her name nowhere on the list of nominees, announced on January 13.

The actress born Nora Lum broke out into the mainstream with her supporting roles in Crazy Rich Asians and Ocean's 8, and is also a successful rapper with two albums under her belt. But there is still much more to this multifaceted woman that many do not know.

She really admires Lucy Liu

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Born in Queens, New York, at the age of 11, Awkwafina forced her father to take her to see Lucy Liu live on Saturday Night Live. This was revealed during Awkwafina’s own monologue in 2018, when the actress became the second Asian-American to host the show – after Liu did almost two decades earlier.

 

Awkwafina recalled how she waited in line to watch Liu with her own eyes, saying, “I just wanted to be near the building. I remember how important that episode was for me and how it totally changed what I thought was possible for an Asian-American woman.” After the heartfelt shoutout, Liu responded and posted a picture of the rapper, writing “shine on fellow warrior” on Instagram.

 

She had a diverse education

The 31-year-old actress has always been a creative soul. She attended the prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, where she trained in classical music and played the trumpet. Awkwafina also majored in journalism and women’s studies at The State University of New York at Albany. During this time, she also interned at Gotham Gazette and Times Union, and worked as the publicity assistant for publishing house Rodale.

 

Umesh Bhagchandani is a lifestyle and entertainment journalist from Jakarta, where he spent the better part of his life writing for Indonesia Tatler. Currently, he still writes film reviews on his blog (meshthemoviefreak) and is developing Jakarta Veg Bible along the way.