TIME magazine released its annual list of the 100 Most Influential People and it includes “Minari” stars Youn Yuh-jung and Steven Yeun.
Youn Yuh-jung won best supporting actress at this year’s Academy Awards, making her the first Korean to win an Oscar acting award, while Yeun was nominated for best actor. “Minari” was also nominated for best picture, best director, best original score and best original screenplay.
“It features extraordinary leaders from around the world working to build a better future, from entertainers striving to make Hollywood more inclusive to activists fighting for sustainability and human rights,” wrote Edward Felsenthal, editor-in-chief and CEO of TIME about the 18th annual TIME 100 list.
Yeun wrote a piece for TIME to introduce Youn Yuh-jung, saying, “It’s not easy to write about someone you admire. Part of my admiration for YJ is that she would refuse and reject any sort of lionizing. She embraces being human. Imperfectly perfect.”
“The first time I ever met her, I was so drawn in by her presence. It required your full attention. It forced you into the moment. I’ve rarely met people with her level of confidence—it feels like a confidence born from a deep sense of self. I think it’s easy to say that she might have attained this through age, but those who know of Youn Yuh Jung’s career and life would know that her entire existence has been a protest against the boxes that tried to trap her,” he said.
He added, “From navigating and breaking through societal expectations to playing fully realized (and deeply human) characters on the screen, she has forged a path that only she could have. I am a fan not just because of her acting prowess but because she has been a singularly unique presence in everything I’ve ever seen her do.”
“For the world to know her better, following her Oscar-winning performance in our film Minari, makes me happy for the world. That we all might receive a genuine person: one who isn’t afraid to tell the truth, and who does so with a care and grace that connects with everyone,” Yeun said.
American actress Tessa Thompson wrote the piece about Yeun, saying, “Steven Yeun is somebody that people want to rally around. When we worked on the 2018 film Sorry to Bother You together, he would come on set and lift the collective energy of everyone with his natural spirit. He has such a tremendous capacity for compassion, for empathy, for love, for vulnerability, for care.”
“In Minari, all of these things were seamlessly funneled into his role as the family’s hardworking father. He’s handled the accolades from that film—including, in 2021, becoming the first Asian American to ever be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor—with a tremendous amount of grace,” she added.
Thompson said, “Steven has always cared for the people in his community, and seeing his leadership gives me hope that we will come to a place where accomplishments like the ones he’s achieved will be frankly just less noteworthy. He’s a deeply fantastic human and a true leading man. It’s been very gratifying to see him become one of the Internet’s boyfriends.”
Here is the complete list of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of 2021:
ICONS
Prince Harry and Meghan, The Duke and Duchess of Sussex
Naomi Osaka
Alexei Navalny
Britney Spears
Sherrilyn Ifill
Dolly Parton
Shohei Ohtani
Cathy Park Hong
Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara
Nasrin Sotoudeh
Manjusha P. Kulkarni, Russell Jeung and Cynthia Choi
Muna El-Kurd and Mohammed El-Kurd
PIONEERS
Billie Eilish
Ben Crump
Adi Utarini
Sunisa Lee
Felwine Sarr and Bénédicte Savoy
Fatih Birol
Aurora James
Adar Poonawalla
Phyllis Omido
Frans Timmermans
Indyra Mendoza and Claudia Spellmant
Roger Cox
Olimpia Coral Melo Cruz
Dorottya Redai
Esther Ze Naw Bamvo and Ei Thinzar Maung
TITANS
Simone Biles
Tim Cook
Shonda Rhimes
Timbaland and Swizz Beatz
Nikole Hannah-Jones
Tom Brady
Youn Yuh Jung
Allyson Felix
Angélique Kidjo
Kenneth C. Frazier and Kenneth I. Chenault
Luiza Trajano
ARTISTS
Kate Winslet
Bad Bunny
Chloé Zhao
Jason Sudeikis
Scarlett Johansson
Lil Nas X
Jessica B. Harris
Bowen Yang
Tracee Ellis Ross
Mark Bradford
N.K. Jemisin
Steven Yeun
Daniel Kaluuya
Omar Sy
Barbara Kruger
Kane Brown
LEADERS
Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
Joe Biden
Xi Jinping
Liz Cheney
Kamala Harris
Mario Draghi
Tucker Carlson
Naftali Bennett
Stacey Abrams
Nayib Bukele
Donald Trump
Narendra Modi
Mahbouba Seraj
Joe Manchin
Ebrahim Raisi
Rochelle Walensky
Mamata Banerjee
Ron Klain
Elisa Loncon Antileo
Abdul Ghani Baradar
INNOVATORS
Jensen Huang
Elon Musk
Adrienne Banfield Norris, Willow Smith and Jada Pinkett Smith
Katalin Kariko
Mary Barra
John Nkengasong
MiMi Aung
Vitalik Buterin
Viya
Barney Graham
Friederike Otto and Geert Jan van Oldenborgh
Kengo Kuma
Sara Menker
Lidia Morawska