Isabelle Khoo / Huffington Post
Paul Sun-Hyung Lee of “Kim’s Convenience” was applauded for winning Best Actor in a comedy series at the 2017 Canadian Screen Awards Sunday night, but he deserves a standing ovation for his moving speech about family.
The 45-year-old actor, who plays Appa in the CBC sitcom about a Korean-Canadian family, not only spoke about being an immigrant, but about representing an immigrant family onscreen.
“I’m living in a dream. Thank you so much,” he began. “I have to say that I am an immigrant and I am a Canadian. In this weird sort of political time, the portrayal of an immigrant family on a national broadcaster doing what all families do – which is try to make a life for themselves through the laughter, through the tears, through the fights, through the love – is so much more important now than ever before.”
“It normalizes us, and it shows people that we might have some cultural differences, but when it comes to family, we are all the same,” he continued. “Our strength has been and always will be diversity in this country. And I’ve never been more proud to be Canadian than I am right now.”
Since the show first aired in October, viewers have applauded it for finally representing the Asian immigrant experience on screen.