Entertainment Weekly’s 2018 Entertainers of the Year is finally more diverse than years past

Eve Polastri (Sandra Oh). Photo: BBC AMERICA/Sid Gentle Films Ltd 2018

Sandra Oh

As the first Asian women to be Emmy nominated for lead actress in a drama, Sandra Oh achieved more than this critical milestone. This year alone, Oh killed it on Killing Eve.

Oh’s role as Eve has obviously created some necessary representation for sapphic women. Though Eve’s specific sexuality in the LGBTQ+ community hasn’t been confirmed, seeing Oh portray a powerful woman has been the highlight of our year.

Killing Eve does the opposite of queer-baiting and it vehemently open with Eve and Villanelle’s definition of a complicated relationship, and casting a leading Asian woman as a sapphic woman helps make the few and perpetually underrepresented bi+ and lesbian characters in cinema feel a little less alienating.

After all, Oh isn’t unfamiliar with portraying health lesbian characters. In Under the Tuscan Sun, she played a lesbian character whose story arc didn’t rely on a hackneyed coming out or coming of age story (which is an anomaly in Hollywood history). Instead, her character, Patti, focuses on her narrative of new-found motherhood and rediscovery who she is. Although Oh isn’t a member of the LGBTQ+ community, it’s also refreshing to see a woman of color portray a lesbian character who isn’t fetishized.

Continually championing healthy depictions of lesbian and sapphic women can redefine the “standard” on-screen representation that actually accurately represents real women within the community.

Plus, Sandra Oh voiced Castaspella in the sapphic-coded series, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power. For that, we’re forever grateful. Though, we do hope to see more of Castaspella in season 2 (we’re still waiting for you to announce that, Netflix).