Oscars 2021: 10 Actors Likely To Get Their First Oscar Nomination This Year
9. Steven Yeun - Minari
In a particularly trying year for everyone, it is not unreasonable to speculate that the Academy may gravitate to stories that are more heart-warming and touching. Minari is just that, the story of a Korean family who immigrates to the USA in the 1980s based on director Lee Isaac Chung's own experiences.
Steven Yeun plays Jacob, the head of the family in question who navigates the emotional contents of the narrative with ease. Yeun is most well known for his work on the Walking Dead but he has proven his dramatic talents since then, most significantly in his ethereal supporting turn in the 2017 thriller Burning.
Since it debuted at Sundance last year, Minari has continued to prove a force on the awards circuit and Yeun would be more than deserving of such attention as well as he gives his career best performance here.
The main thing that holds him back is the Academy's strange aversion to nominating Asian performers as evidenced last year when Best Picture winner Parasite walked away with zero acting nominations for its SAG winning ensemble cast. Hopefully Yeun will break this trend.