'Squid Game' stars make history as 1st Asians to win best drama acting SAG Awards
MANILA, Philippines — 'Squid Game' actors Lee Jung Jae and Jung Ho Yeon won big at the recently held Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards 2022 in Santa Monica Barker Hangar, Los Angeles.
The two actors received major recognitions at the SAG Awards for their performance in the Korean survival series, which became a blockbuster megahit worldwide on Netflix last year.
Easily the breakout star of the series is model and actress Jung Ho Yeon, who astounded viewers with her portrayal of Kang Sae-byeok. She won the honor of Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series for her first ever acting job.
The actress had to fight her tears while delivering her speech as she accepted the award.
“First and foremost, thank you so much,” Jung Ho-yeon said in Korean, which was then translated to English through an interpreter. “I have sat many a times watching you on the big screen dreaming of one day becoming an actor. I just want to say thank you so much.”
Then, speaking in English after pausing to shed a few tears, the actor added, “Thank you [for making my] dream and opening the door for me. I love my 'Squid Game' crew!” She delivered her acceptance speech in custom Louis Vuitton.
She was not exactly confident in her abilities at first. She shared to People Magazine her conversation with the series director Hwang Dong-hyuk, “I think I wanted to feel certain about why he chose me. Then the director said to me, ‘I picked you because you’re already perfect as Sae Byeok.' That one phrase made me think that even if I’m not that great at acting, it would be problematic if I’m not able to do what I normally can do because of my nervousness and uneasiness, and I was able to overcome it."
"I also spoke to my seniors a lot while filming. From a certain point on, I didn’t feel uneasy, and I could focus and do my best,” she added.
One the other hand, Lee Jung Jae, who played main protagonist Seong Gi-hun, was already a veteran actor in his native South Korea before his "Squid Game" global fame. He received the Best Performance by a Male Actor in a Drama Series award at the 28th annual SAG.
"Oh my, thank you so much! This is truly huge that it's happened to me. I did write something but I don't think I'll get to reading it. Thank you so much SAG-AFTRA awards and thank you to the global audience for all of your love for 'Squid Game'," he said in his speech as he accepted the award. "And thank you 'Squid Game' team."
Jung Jae went up against Brian Cox, Kieran Caulkin, and Jeremy Strong of hit HBO series "Succession," to name a few of the big hot shots he faced.
According to a Soompi report, not only are they the first Korean actors to win the awards in the drama category; they are also the first Asian actors to do so.
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