Sandra Oh started her acting career at the age of 10 when her sister insisted she audition for The Canada Goose. She began acting professionally at 15 and went on to the prestigious National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal.
Oh’s first significant break came with the title role of a teenage runaway, prostitute and drug-addicted poet in The Diary of Evelyn Lau for the CBC, based on the true story of Canadian poet Evelyn Lau. Oh won the part over 1,000 other hopefuls, and her gritty performance earned her a Gemini nomination for Best Actress, as well as the 1994 Cannes FIPA d’Or for Best Actress.
She became more widely known in Canada for her lead performance in the Canadian film Double Happiness (1994), for which she won the Genie Award for Best Actress. Her other Canadian films include The Red Violin, and Last Night, for which she won her second Best Actress Genie, Long Life, Happiness & Prosperity and Defendor.
Oh moved to Hollywood in 1996 to star in Arli$$, for which she won a CableACE Award for Best Actress in a Comedy. She also starred in Dancing at the Blue Iguana, winning Best Performance at the Milan Film Festival in 2001. Oh’s star continued to rise with the release of the Oscar-winning Sideways for which she won a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.
It was her role as Cristina Yang on ABC’s long-standing hit Grey’s Anatomy that truly changed her life. With a Golden Globe Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards and no less than five Emmy nominations. She has performed in various award-winning feature films and television series, including Rabbit Hole, Under the Tuscan Sun, Six Feet Under, Oleanna, The House of Bernarda Alba, Dogeaters, Stop Kiss and Satellites. Oh has also lent her voice to the animated projects Mulan II, The Land Before Time XIII: Wisdom of Friends, American Dad! and the award-nominated radio play The Maltese Falcon.
