Awkwafina makes history at Golden Globes with best actress - musical or comedy win
Awkwafina won her first Golden Globe award for her performance in "The Farewell" on Sunday night.
With the achievement, she became the first actress of Asian descent to win a Golden Globe in the best performance by an actress in a motion picture – musical or comedy category.
Only five women of Asian descent have been nominated in the category before Awkwafina: actress Machiko Kyoin in 1957, Miyoshi Umeki in 1962, Yvonne Elliman in 1974, Hailee Steinfeld in 2017 and Constance Wu in 2019.
During an emotional acceptance speech, the actress, 31, thanked her family and those that contributed to "The Farewell."
"If anything, if I fall upon hard times I can sell this," she joked about her award in her speech. "I've never been to the Golden Globes, so I'm here now and it's this and it's great."
She also expressed her gratitude to the film's director, Lulu Wang. "You gave me this chance, the chance of a lifetime and you taught me so much. Just filming the story, being with you was incredible."
She dedicated the award to her father, her grandmother and her late mother. On her history-making achievement, she remarked that it is "pretty mind blowing."
"It feels incredible," she said backstage. "I think there's also this other feeling that you want there to be more. I hope this is just the beginning."
The actress' win comes after Sandra Oh's historic year at the 2019 Golden Globes. Oh became the first Asian actress to host the annual award show and won Best Actress for her performance in BBC America’s "Killing Eve."
Awkwafina previously told "Good Morning America" that she wanted to get involved in "The Farewell," a drama about a family saying goodbye to their sick grandmother, after being impressed by the script.
"I'd never read anything like it," she said in an interview with “GMA" in July 2019. "It was shortly after I did 'Oceans 8' and I was kind of wondering what was next. I was raised by my grandma, and I also know what it's like to go back to Asia and to feel lost there as well -- it meant a lot to me."
She also shared that she hopes the emotional film will "move people and cause people to think about their own lives, their own families and the love in their own families."
"It's been an incredible ride," she added.
