Fresh off her Oscar win for "Minari," Youn Yuh-jung stars in "Pachinko," Apple TV+'s adaptation of Min Jin Lee's 2017 novel. Youn plays the 1980s version of Sunja, whom the story introduces as a Korean youth in the 1910s, when the country was occupied by Japan. The title could be interpreted as a metaphor for the directions life takes based on this choice or that (as balls bounce randomly off pins in a pachinko machine); Sunja eventually makes a momentous decision that leads to her migration to Japan.
When Youn picks up the character, she has been living there for decades. The immigrant who did not speak Japanese — or even know how to read — has managed to thrive and raise two sons. In the late '80s, as the now-elderly Sunja dreams of at long last visiting her homeland, she's asked by her Americanized grandson Solomon for help in a real estate deal.
The 74-year-old actress whose career began more than 50 years ago video chatted with The Envelope about Sunja's strength, the line that moved her the most and how the Oscar has or hasn't changed her.
