Maggie Kang: The Ultimate Honour

I mentioned Gold House’s Gold Gala in today’s site open today recognising and celebrating AAPI talent and, of course, one of the artists who’s been the most prominent this year is Maggie Kang – she’s basically won every award, including the Oscar, and returned home to Toronto last week where mayor Olivia Chow presented her with the key to the city.

But I’m not sure any of those honours hits in quite the same way as the honour she received at the Gold Gala – because she was blessed, literally, by a legend, Youn Yuh-jung herself. And it’s on camera. The words that East Asian kids almost never hear from their elders, LOL. “I’m so proud of you.”

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Note the deep bow that Bowen Yang gave to Youn Yuh-jung before he approached – this is correct. They of course would have known each other from The Wedding Banquet 2025, when I interviewed him at the junket, he was still levitating over the fact that they were co-stars. For Maggie, being Korean, there’s an extra layer of gratitude at being seen and complimented by this icon, the first Korean actor to win an Oscar, a true Korean titan. And a woman who has seen some things, has been through some sh-t, who knows the struggle.

Youn Yuh-jung is in Beef season two, as usual she is magnificent. And this is why she’s doing media appearances, since Emmys campaigning is happening now, including a new profile in Vogue in which she talks about the surprise of not just being a successful actor but that she’s still acting after all these years since, at one point, she had a different dream, quitting acting when she moved to the United States with her then-husband where they had their kids. And this was when she was very popular during the early part of her career.

That dream evaporated, however, when he cheated on her, chronically. So she had to go back to work, as a single mother, even though there were few acting opportunities in the late 80s and early 90s for divorced women. Which meant she had to take whatever was offered to her, no leading roles, steadily climbing her way back up so she could raise her kids. 

“It was a job to me,” she says. “I did not consider myself a star; it was not glamorous to me. I was just a single mother trying to feed both of them. I chose almost everything. I was working constantly.”

And now, in her late 70s, everyone wants to work with Youn Yuh-jung, everyone wants to pay their respects, perhaps the Television Academy too because early predictions have her on the list of nominees in the support category for limited series. She already has an Oscar, will she add an Emmy to her list of accomplishments?