In a year where Asian-American stories have been brought to the forefront, few voices have been as celebrated as Lee Isaac Chung’s. Oscar-nominated for his work on Minari, a semi-autobiographical tale of his upbringing in the South, Chung joins Nomadland’s Chloe Zhao as one of two Asian filmmakers nominated for Best Director and Best Picture this year.<br /><br />The success of Minari, which follows a Korean-American family’s move to rural Arkansas, has propelled Chung into the spotlight – a welcomed but perhaps unfamiliar position for someone whose mercurial career had him considering a switch from filmmaking to dental school as recently as four years ago.<br /><br />But for Chung, who grew up in the U.S. and now lives in Los Angeles, the film has not only given him a new platform to speak about his own experiences within the industry, but also a new measurement for what it means to find success (spoiler alert: it has nothing to do with awards).
