Steven Yeun — From The Walking Dead Favorite to History-Making Oscar Nominee
Chronicling the ‘Minari’ star’s rise to fame and career evolution.
Actor Steven Yeun made history this month by becoming the first Asian American nominated for the best actor in a leading role Oscar. The honor comes from his work in Lee Isaac Chung’s Minari, in which Yeun portrays Jacob Yi, the patriarch of a Korean-American family that struggles to find success on a rural Arkansas farm. The role comes as the latest in a string of career evolutions from Yeun, who’s never allowed himself to be boxed in, even in the face of great success.
Most audiences first got to know Steven Yeun through his seven-season run on AMC’s wildly popular The Walking Dead. Emerging on the show in 2010 as pizza delivery boy turned zombie apocalypse survivor Glenn Rhee, Yeun quickly endeared himself to fans through his relatability and comedic relief on an otherwise intense show. Yeun became such a beloved staple of the show that immediately following the episode featuring the death of his character, viewership dropped by nearly 4.5 million.
But even his breakout role in The Walking Dead was a departure from how he started out. The violent and serious tone of the show stood in sharp contrast to the mostly comedy-focused work that Yuen began his career with. Coming out of the Second City Improv group in Chicago, most of Yuen’s early jobs consisted of comedy films and bit parts in sitcoms. Albeit in a limited capacity, The Walking Dead was the first role that allowed him to showcase a dramatic side, giving a small taste of his acting pedigree and the more intense roles to come.
After a successful six-year run on one of television’s most popular shows, in 2016 Steven Yuen was in a position where he could have his pick of any role he wanted. He wasted little time and seized the opportunity to begin working on more personal and politically-pointed projects, helmed mostly by visionary minority directors. Only one year after The Walking Dead ended, Yeun starred in Bong Joon Ho’s Okja, where he played K, a radical environmentalist who steals the titular genetically modified super-pig. The film would go on to premiere at the Cannes film festival and later be nominated for the prestigious Palme d’Or prize, the highest honor at the world-renowned festival.
Yeun started off 2018 by starring in Boots Riley’s critically acclaimed absurdist dark comedy Sorry to Bother You, where he played Squeeze, a telemarketing employee adamant on protesting the system and unionizing his coworkers. The character stands in sharp contrast to his next role, the young and rich Gatsby-like world traveller Ben, in Chang-dong Lee’s mystery-drama Burning. Here, Yeun made the leap to full-fledged leading man, helping the film receive critical praise, and making it the highest-rated film in the history of the Cannes jury grid.
In 2020 Yeun starred in Minari. He took an equally intensive role as executive producer. The film is a semi-autobiographical tale of director Lee Isaac Chung watching his immigrant parents struggle to make it on a rural farm in the 1980’s. Yeun plays the young and driven Jacob Yi, where he convincingly portrays a father and husband. Because the film switches between Korean and English, it can be seen as a beautiful marriage of Yeun’s American and Korean film work. So well praised is his performance that he was ‘nominated for an Oscar for best actor in a leading role. Making history and paving the way for minority groups, Yeun is the first ever Asian American actor to receive this honor.
Whether he wins or not, it’s clear that Yeun will continue to grow as an actor and defy what’s expected of him. His latest project continues a side of his work that’s been often ignored yet present since the beginning — voice acting. He’s set to star in the adult animated series Invincible, which sees him reuniting with Walking Dead creator Robert Kirkman. From comedy to Oscar-nominated dramas, Yeun remains versatile and continues to expand his eclectic resume.
