Sandra Oh's Theater Lessons

We have got another new Sandra interview for you. The original interview was published in French at Cyberpresse.ca, and we have used Google Translate for the English translation which you can read below. But Google Translate isn't perfect so if you come across a sentence - or many - that don't make sense, that is the explanation. If there is anything that you think that we should correct, please let us know.

Every week for five years Sandra Oh is Cristina Yang, a doctor cold, arrogant and pushy in the TV series, Grey's Anatomy. But last Friday in Montreal, Sandra Oh is again a simple graduate of the National Theater School when she received the Gascon-Thomas Award with Paul Buissonneau. Meeting with a star bilingual and easy.

Sandra Oh will never forget the scene. It was in 1990 during her first year in interpretation in the English section of the National Theater School. Wounded Knee, the evening of her first performance in the attic of a National Monument, still in ruins, it had reached the top of the stairs in the arms of a classmate.

"I knew that my father had driven two hours from Ottawa to come see me play. And I was frightened because he had already hinted that in his mind, actress was a notch higher than whore. But that night, I played just a whore! "Says the 38 years old actress, her great burst of laughter perched high in a vast hall of a National Monument it does not recognize. "My God, look at those beautiful varnished floor," she exclaimed on arriving, dressed in a white pirate shirt and baggy black pants signed Alexander McQueen.

First surprise: Sandra Oh's French is surprisingly clear and fluid. The actress has yet grown into English in suburban Ottawa, the second of three children of immigrants from South Korea. Oh's Dad has long been an economist for the federal government while Mom worked as a biochemist. Like many immigrants, they dreamed of having their children having long and serious university studies. But at 18 years and despite a father who pushed her to study journalism at Ottawa, Sandra Oh arrives in Montreal to audition at the National School. If she were to get refused, plan B is to complete her academic training at Concordia history to reassure her parents. Fate decides otherwise.

The first penny of the abacus

"The day I received my acceptance letter from the National School is like the first penny of the abacus had fallen and was put in place. Despite the fears of my parents and mine too, I decided I could not live with the regret of not trying. No, that I could not. Since I was little, I felt that I had no choice, that I had to be an actress. And even if my parents saw it a bad eye, my desire was stronger than them. Play was my only way to breathe."

In fall 1990, Sandra is a pad on the Boulevard Saint-Laurent in front of the deceased Lux. She has no money, dressed in black, do not always eat their fill but finds that the National School is an incredibly exciting. She is forging friendships with classmates, Patrick Gallagher (Glee, Night at the Museum, True Blood), Shawn Mathieson, Elizabeth Robertson, Kari Matchett and Kristen Thomas, many people with whom she remained in contact some of whom are attending the discount price.

"My classmates are my community, my roots. They know who I am and what I am worth. They know my strengths and weaknesses. They know when I lie. They saw me in the rough. Their opinion matters to me more than anything."

In addition to providing beautiful memories, the National School Sandra Oh learned two valuable lessons: "Learning to become a better player is not everything, still need to know how to take care of the actor in us. That, I learned that here, "she said. More importantly, the school showed me there were a thousand and one ways to do this job and how we could do to achieve what we wanted with the tools we had."

Leaving School in 1993, Sandra Oh sees a chance to smile. Chosen from among 1,000 competitors, she won the primary role of the TV movie The Diary of Evelyn Lau, the true story of an Asian teenager becoming a drug addict and prostitute in the streets of Vancouver. Two other television movies for CBC, including one on the life of Adrienne Clarkson, complete this card game winner and the push to try her luck in Hollywood. "In Canada, nobody ever told me that because of my difference, I find it difficult to penetrate. But in Los Angeles, I have been told for 12 years."

A marriage and separation

Yet since 1996, having returned to live in Toronto, luck smiled again. HBO offered her the role of assistant to a sports agent in the series Arliss. This role will help her earn a good living for six years. Meanwhile, she met director Alexander Payne whom she married in 2003, who directed the popular film Sideways, whom she left two years later. The character of Cristina Yang has distracted from the pain of his love and especially to a television star in the United States.

One day, Sandra Oh knows she must learn to live without the lessons Grey's Anatomy. Meanwhile, it is clear evidence that the difference did not matter and that there is life and beautiful roles after the National School.

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