Photo: NBC
Fans all over the world might have one more thing to rejoice about as a “Squid Game” star claims a global award.
Actor O Yeong-su snatched South Korea’s first ever Golden Globe Award for his character in the worldwide hit Netflix drama “Squid Game” on Sunday, January 9th. Despite the backlash for ceremony organizers regarding the organization’s lack of diversity, this brought celebration to the country and overseas.
“I feel like I’m floating on air. It makes me think, ‘I need to calm down, organize my thoughts, and hold myself back right now,’” O remarked on Korean television after his award was announced. “It’s hard for me to handle the volume of calls and messages I’ve been receiving.”
The 77-year-old actor Oh Il Nam beat out two other actors for this award, receiving it over his part as an elderly man who joins the game later to be discovered as its real mastermind. He won it over fellow nominees Billy Crudup from “The Morning Show” and Kieran Culkin from “Succession.”
O’s win came after Youn Yu-jung’s Oscar, which was the first ever in South Korean entertainment industry history. She won best supporting actress for her performance as Soonja, the grandmother of the family, in the immigrant story “Minari.”
The release of the Netflix show “Squid Game” in September of 2021 becoming a hit has been a major shock for them. It is one of their most extensive non-English productions to date.
The series follows a group of individuals who will risk anything to redeem themselves from debts and crimes. Everyone gets offered money by someone they meet on the street, but what seems like an easy answer turns out not to be so simple when you discover that there’s been some kind of terrible mistake—the game has deadly consequences.
Oh Il-Nam, as stated early on in this article, joins as Player 001 and is a seemingly defenseless man with a brain tumor that affects his memory. But later it turns out to be the real mastermind behind the contest.
O is considered one of South Korea’s most prominent theater actors. He has appeared in over 200 stage productions since 1963 and has received a multitude of awards.
