--- title: Awkwafina Is on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List description: Sandra Oh writes about why The Farewell star Awkwafina made the 2019 TIME 100 Next list. canonical: https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718887/awkwafina/ article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2019-11-13T01:30:01.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-06-30T08:16:20.754Z og:title: Awkwafina Is on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List og:description: Sandra Oh writes about why The Farewell star Awkwafina made the 2019 TIME 100 Next list. og:url: https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718887/awkwafina/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81fd373f50c22df4/698a05ac8fd2ee279f360685/awkwafina-time-100-next.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Awkwafina Is on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Awkwafina Is on the 2019 TIME 100 Next List twitter:description: Sandra Oh writes about why The Farewell star Awkwafina made the 2019 TIME 100 Next list. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81fd373f50c22df4/698a05ac8fd2ee279f360685/awkwafina-time-100-next.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 --- Nov 13, 2019 # Awkwafina by Sandra Oh  Scandebergs for TIME The first time I ever saw Awkwafina was in 2013\. She was on the cover of _KoreAm_ magazine, staring down the lens after rapping about her vag. I thought, Who is that? The first time I met Awkwafina was in 2015\. She was at a [KoreanAmericanStory.org](https://koreanamericanstory.org/) event, supporting fellow rapper Dumbfoundead, and they were just so fresh and full of this amazing energy. I thought, Who is she? The last time I saw Awkwafina, we were eating burgers at _Crazy Rich Asians_ director Jon M. Chu’s house after the Critics’ Choice Awards. I cannot express how pleased I am to see her meteoric rise. I’m not surprised because she is a complete original. There are so many things I can point to: Her timing. Her beautiful, melancholic face. And her unforgettable voice. In the opening scene of _The Farewell,_ Awkwafina, as her character Billi, is talking to her grandmother on the phone in perfect Mandarin—and then turns to talk to a woman on the street in English, flipping back to the everyday New Yorker she is. I think her ability in that scene exemplifies a unique and powerful moment of identity. She’s able to hold many identities while simultaneously (and singularly) being herself. _Oh is a Golden Globe Award–winning actor_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"Article","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718887/awkwafina/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718887/awkwafina/"},"headline":"Awkwafina","datePublished":"2019-11-13T01:30:01.000Z","dateModified":"2026-06-30T08:16:20.754Z","description":"Sandra Oh writes about why The Farewell star Awkwafina made the 2019 TIME 100 Next list.","url":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718887/awkwafina/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81fd373f50c22df4/698a05ac8fd2ee279f360685/awkwafina-time-100-next.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME Staff","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/time-staff/"}],"creator":"TIME Staff","articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt81fd373f50c22df4/698a05ac8fd2ee279f360685/awkwafina-time-100-next.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/collections/time-100-next-2019/5718887/awkwafina/","name":"Awkwafina"}}]}] ```