Sandra Oh on being a global Asian icon and Killing Eve

Sandra Oh celebrates the new wave of Korean fashion designers, while talking to NET-A-PORTER’s digital title, PORTER, about her identity as a Korean-Canadian actor, her close bond with her parents and the third series of Killing Eve: “So, obviously I didn’t die.”

The previous season ended with her character, Eve, being shot by her ‘other half’ Villanelle. “[The next season] is basically about where you come back after that, emotionally.” she says, giving everything and nothing away at once.

She says the role of Eve remains the most challenging of her career: “A lot of the time I feel Eve is fighting. And there have been times when I have been fighting as well.” This has something to do with the psychological depths Eve has gone to and she wonders if that’s why the show has struck such a nerve, particularly among women: “Eve is changing, and the deeper you go, the deeper the resonance can be.”

The Korean-Canadian actor is interested in figuring out is what it means to be Asian in the West: “It’s not just, ‘dominant culture, let us in’. It’s about our self-identity as Asians in the diaspora.” She explains that when she first received the script for Killing Eve, she couldn’t make out which role was for her, taking for granted that it wasn’t the lead: “I still wonder what that was about. That was one of those moments when you believe you are on a journey, making progress, and then you realize, inside you are back here. I was filled with shame, anger, humiliation, heartbreak. And that was only three years ago.”

The success of Killing Eve has helped her to move on, and has also led to a number of breakthroughs, including Oh becoming the first Asian-American woman to be nominated for a Lead Actress Emmy, to host the Golden Globes, and to win multiple Golden Globes (after her Best Supporting Actress gong for Grey’s Anatomy in 2006).

Oh admits to challenging her Korean-born parents as a teenager in Canada: “I put [my parents] through so much s***. I did a lot of improv in high school, and in my last year we had a big competition. I was applying to theater school at the time,” against her parents’ wishes, “and I did an entire skit with two people playing my parents about how I wanted to go to the National Theatre School. And my parents were in the audience. Awful! What kind of daughter does that?”

When, in 2018, billboards for Killing Eve went up, Oh took her mother and father to see them, and their pride was evident: “This is what I really love about my parents. Not only is it, this is my daughter on this billboard, it’s absolutely an Asian face too, and that has a profound meaning for them, which we don’t need to talk about, but I know they carry it. And I know they carry it for everyone in their generation.”

For PORTER’s shoot, Oh was photographed by Boo George and styled by Cathy Kasterine. The shoot highlights NET-A-PORTER’s Korean Collective exclusive capsules, with Oh wearing pieces by Pushbutton, Andersson Bell and Le 17 Septembre. All items can be purchased straight from the shoot via the NET-A-PORTER app, available on Android as well as iPhone and iPad, and through www.net-a-porter.com.

Interview highlights:

Sandra Oh on her character Eve’s fate: “So, obviously I didn’t die… [The next season] is basically about where you come back after that, emotionally,”

Sandra Oh on Eve: “A lot of the time I feel Eve is fighting. And there have been times when I have been fighting as well… “Eve is changing, and the deeper you go, the deeper the resonance can be.”

Sandra Oh on taking a break from filming for a week: “This happens to be a break for me. They are shooting [another storyline] elsewhere. I won’t tell you where; it’s fantastic! I can’t believe I can’t go.”

Sandra Oh on not realising the role of Eve was meant for her when she first received the script: “I still wonder what that was about. That was one of those moments when you believe you are on a journey, making progress, and then you realise, inside you are back here. I was filled with shame, anger, humiliation, heartbreak. And that was only three years ago.”

Sandra Oh on what it means for her to be Asian in the West: “It’s not just, ‘dominant culture, let us in’. It’s about our self-identity as Asians in the diaspora, and what and how we want to be.”

Sandra Oh on the bond that Asian-American performers have with each other and building a creative community: “There is just this bond [between us]; we’re the first generation. I look up to the African-American creative community because of the way they have created a sense of individual and [collective] identity. It’s almost too early for us in the Asian community. It just speaks to where I feel we need to go.”

Sandra Oh on not getting the chance yet to work with many other Asian-America performers: “Because you’ve got one person of color on screen at a time.”

Sandra Oh on feeling the impact of her success on the younger generation: “In the way young people of colour, not just Asian, come up to me and say whatever is in their heart. It’s very intense.”

Sandra Oh on her relationship with her parents at high school: “I put [my parents] through so much s***. I did a lot of improv in high school, and in my last year we had a big competition. I was applying to theatre school at the time,” against her parents’ wishes, “and I did an entire skit with two people playing my parents about how I wanted to go to the National Theatre School. And my parents were in the audience. Awful! What kind of daughter does that?”

Sandra Oh on her first role outside of college, a TV film about Canadian poet Evelyn Lau: “It was very difficult subject matter. With scenes of Evelyn doing drugs and being a prostitute. [My mom had] this very old-school mentality that acting is one step above prostitution, and the first thing I do is play a prostitute! It aired and the next week at church some people were not [supportive]. But I never felt any pressure because [my parents sided with me] and that was clearly very difficult. The only thing I remember [my mom] saying to me afterwards was, ‘That must have been very hard.’ It’s amazing the ways we feel understood by our parents.”

Sandra Oh on taking her mother and father to see the billboards for Killing Eve in 2018: “This is what I really love about my parents. Not only is it, this is my daughter on this billboard, it’s absolutely an Asian face too, and that has a profound meaning for them, which we don’t need to talk about, but I know they carry it. And I know they carry it for everyone in their generation.”

To see the full interview, head to Porter or download the NET-A-PORTER app for iPhone, iPad and Android