Sandra Oh

Born and raised in Ottawa, Canada, Sandra Oh started ballet lessons at the age of four and performed in her first play, "The Canada Goose," at the age of ten. She started working professionally at age sixteen in television, theatre and commercials.

After three years at the prestigious National Theatre School of Canada, she beat out more than 1000 other hopefuls and landed the coveted title role in the CBC telefilm, "The Diary of Evelyn Lau," based on the true story of a tortured poet who ran away from home and ended up a drug addict and prostitute in Vancouver. Her performance brought her a Gemini (Canada's Emmy) nomination for Best Actress and the 1994 Cannes FIPA d'Or for Best Actress.

Oh won her first Genie (Canada's Oscar) for her leading role in "Double Happiness," a bittersweet coming-of-age story about a young Chinese-Canadian woman. She moved to Los Angeles in 1996 to begin the first of six seasons as Rita Wu, the smart and sassy assistant on the HBO comedy series, "Arli$$," for which she won a Cable Ace Award for Best Actress in a Comedy. Additional television credits include HBO's "Six Feet Under" and Showtime's "Further Tales of the City." She has been nominated for multiple Emmy Awards and won a Golden Globe Award (Best Actress in a Supporting Role), a Screen Actors Guild Award (Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series) and a Diversity Award (2005 Creative Liberty Award) for her portrayal of Cristina on "Grey's Anatomy."

On the big screen Oh can be seen in the films "The Night Listener," "3 Needles" and "For Your Consideration." She starred in "Sideways" (for which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture), "Hard Candy" and "Sorry Haters." Other feature films include "Under the Tuscan Sun" with Diane Lane, "Dancing at the Blue Iguana," "Rick," "Bean," "Guinevere," "The Red Violin," "Waking the Dead," "The Princess Diaries," "Pay or Play" and "Long Life, Happiness and Prosperity." For "Last Night," a Canadian film about the end of the world, Oh won her second Genie Award for Best Actress.

In 2006 Oh starred in the play "Satellites" at New York's Public Theater for playwright Diana Son, and received both Drama Desk and Drama League nominations for her performance. She starred additionally in the world premieres of Son's "Stop Kiss," for which she received a Theatre World Award, and Jessica Hagedorn's "Dogeaters" at the La Jolla Playhouse. She was also seen in the "Vagina Monologues" in New York.

Oh resides in Los Angeles.

PERSONAL INFORMATION
HOMETOWN Ottawa, Canada
BIRTHDATE July 20