Shattering Glass Ceilings at the Golden Globes

Los Angeles, California - With Awkwafina making history as the first Asian-American to win the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Leading Role category and Korean film Parasite taking the best foreign film award, the Asian American community can take pride in not just breaking the glass ceiling this year at the 77th GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS but shattering it to pieces.

Calm and collected, Awkwafina delivered a strong message on behalf of the community shortly after her win. "It feels incredible, and I think there's also this other feeling that you want there to be more. I hope this is just the beginning," she said in reply to my question on how she felt about making history that night.

She was one of the reasons the 77th Golden Globes became most memorable. It had been six years since the last time I covered the event upon the invitation of Ruben and Janet Nepales, the only Filipino members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which stages the annual Golden Globes gala. Back in 2014, Filipino American Robert Lopez and wife Kristen Anderson-Lopez were in the running for Best Original Song for the popular Disney song "Let It Go." This time around, the Nepaleses gave me the chance to interview the Hollywood stars up close on the red carpet and in the press room. It was fascinating to speak directly with the likes of Scarlett Johansson, Ellen DeGeneres, Tom Hanks, Joaquin Phoenix, and Laura Dern, and observe how they interact with ethnic media like myself, among other things.

My favorite red carpet interview was with Scarlett Johansson, who was nominated as Best Actress for her role in Marriage Story. I was personally rooting for her as I had seen the movie and was moved by it. But when you're working press trying to catch the celebrities' attention as they walk the red carpet, whose publicists don't pay much attention to journalists whom they don't know, it is not that easy.

Let's say I seized the moment that night. I mean there I was in my black tie and Scarlett comes along in her gorgeous red gown, and everyone is jostling on the fenced sidelines of the red carpet. Throwing caution to the wind, I screamed my question: did she get emotional doing the movie? Perhaps triggered by the question, she stopped and took time to answer.

"It was such a personal story for so many people, I think. Even though there's a lot of heartbreak, there's so much love between those two characters, and that resonated with me," she said eventually. I heaved a huge sigh of relief afterwards, thrilled that she noticed me and answered my question so meaningfully.

At the press room, Laura Dern, who won the Best Supporting Actress award for her role as the feisty divorce lawyer in Marriage Story, shared Scarlett's sentiment. "Well, you know, in just one cast, which could have been a million different people and one crew that could have been a million different people, we all felt personal about it. And so, to my amazing divorced parents, and my amazing stepparents, and my amazing children, you know, who came from love despite an ending in a marriage, we're so privileged to redefine what family looks like. And to consider as Noah [Baumbach] has said about this story when we first talked about it, he said, 'I want to tell a love story where endings are not failures,' and that really moved me and struck me deeply. And so no one worked on this movie that hadn't had their family reconfigured, if you will. And so we all share that, it feels deeply personal to us," she said in reply to my question.

When it was Olivia Colman's turn at the podium, I asked what she would ask Queen Elizabeth II, whom she portrays in the TV series The Crown, if ever they met. The multi-awarded British actress, this year's Best Actress in a TV series, gave everyone food for thought. "If I met the Queen, I'd quite like to ask her what other jobs she would have liked had she had a choice. Yes, I think everybody says, 'What's in her handbag?' Well, I don't care what's in her handbag. I'd quite like to know what she would have liked to have been if she had been able to choose what she wanted."

My question to Ellen DeGeneres was straightforward: You've won already so many accolades, how is this award any different? Her answer was one for the books.

"It's very different, and they're all different. But I mean this is the Carol Burnett Award. It's a lifetime achievement for television, and that's crazy that I've gone in and out of television, and then the fact that I would get something even connected to a name that I grew up admiring is very important to me. I think it means a lot to other people, you know? I think it sends the message that - as I said, when I started, my life has been a crazy journey. I could never imagined that I would have won any awards much less than THE ONE that you're referring to. So, um, I think it sends a really powerful message to anyone out there trying to start a career and saying, 'I'm different.' You can accomplish a whole lot. As much as I don't seem emotional, I'm deeply moved by this. I mean, I really am," Ellen said.

But like I said earlier, my most memorable moment was with Awkwafina. It happened at the Amazon after-party, where she graciously accommodated a selfie with me and let me touch her Golden Globe trophy. What a way to end an evening!

Photos: Elton Lugay

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