Sandra Oh has doubled her donation to the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival for prize giving to $100,000.
During a reception at the Toronto Film Festival, the Killing Eve star added another $50,000 to take her overall contribution to the festival’s Reel Asian Fire Horse Award to $100,000 over five years.
Oh, a long-time activist for Asian storytelling, told the reception: “Even though there is a place and a space for us now, it’s so important that we develop people and this is the place where we can do it.” After wrapping her run playing Dr. Cristina Yang on the ABC medical drama Grey’s Anatomy, Oh has championed stories that explore the Asian American identity.
The Korean Canadian actor was in Toronto this week as the honorary co-chair of the TIFF Tribute Awards held on Sunday evening. Oh also attended the 30th anniversary screening at TIFF of Mina Shum’s Double Happiness, in which she starred, and the world premiere of Ann Marie Fleming’s Can I Get A Witness, where she plays the character Ellie.
The Reel Asian Fire Horse Award was created in 2021 to honor Reel Asian founder Anita Lee, who is also the chief programming officer for the Toronto Film Festival. Previous winners include Keith Lee, Mary Stephen, and Paul Wong.
Oh’s recent work includes Max’s The Sympathizer, an espionage thriller based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen and portraying the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam war. She also lent her voice to animation projects like Over the Moon and Raya and the Last Dragon.
