Sandra Oh has doubled her donation to the Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival for the awards ceremony to $100,000.
During a reception at the Toronto Film Festival, the Killing Eve The star added another $50,000, bringing his overall contribution to the festival’s Reel Asian Fire Horse Award to $100,000 over five years.
Oh, a longtime activist for Asian storytelling, said at the reception: “Even though there's a place and a space for us now, it's so important that we develop people and this is the place where we can do that.” After wrapping up her run playing Dr. Cristina Yang on the ABC medical drama Anatomy of GreyOh has promoted stories that explore Asian-American identity.
The Korean-Canadian actor was in Toronto this week as the honorary co-chair of the TIFF Tribute Awards held Sunday night. Oh also attended the 30th anniversary screening of Mina Shum's film at TIFF Double happinessin which she starred, and the world premiere of Ann Marie Fleming Can I have a witness? where she plays the character of Ellie.
The Reel Asian Fire Horse Award was created in 2021 to honor Reel Asian founder Anita Lee, who is also the programming director of the Toronto Film Festival. Previous recipients include Keith Lee, Mary Stephen, and Paul Wong.
Oh's recent works include Max's The sympathizera spy thriller based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Viet Thanh Nguyen and depicting the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy during the final days of the Vietnam War. He has also lent his voice to animated projects such as Beyond the moon AND Raya and the Last Dragon.