Meet Ji-young Yoo, Tribeca Festival’s Best Performance Winner
“It was a real labor of love,” says “Smoking Tigers” star Ji-young Yoo. “We had a million dollars and 20 days and a dream, and we made it happen.”
The feature film, written and directed by Shelly Yo, also had the support of the Tribeca Festival ahead of its premiere. In 2022, Yo was awarded a $1 million grant through the festival’s “Untold Stories” program to produce “Smoking Tigers.” On Thursday, Yo won the festival’s award for best screenplay, and Yoo was awarded best performance for her lead portrayal of Hayoung in the film.
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The young actress originally connected with the director ahead of Yo’s proof-of-concept short, “Soft Sounds of Peeling Fruit.” The timing didn’t work out for Yoo to work on that initial project — she was headed to Hong Kong to star in Amazon’s upcoming series “Expats,” opposite Nicole Kidman.
“But we stayed in touch, and [Yo] saw me last year in a play called ‘Man of God’ that ran at the Geffen [Playhouse] and at Williamstown Theater Festival,” adds Yoo. “And I think from seeing that, [Yo] felt like I could be a fit for Hayoung.”
Yoo stars in “Smoking Tigers” as a Korean-American teenager navigating her parents’ recent separation while trying to fit in with a group of wealthy classmates at her new high school.
“The thing that stuck with me is how simple Hayoung’s dreams are,” says Yoo of the story’s resonance. “A lot of times in Hollywood films or in American films in general, [the main characters] want to be the biggest and the best and the brightest at whatever they’re striving towards. But Hayoung really just wants simple things. She wants air conditioning in her house. She wants her family to be together. She wants a two-car garage. The really simple things — a big bathtub where she can take a long, hot bath. She doesn’t want these huge, grandiose dreams that I think sometimes we tend to focus on. And I thought that was really beautiful and very easy to connect to. I think the little things are usually what makes us happy.”
Despite the condensed shooting schedule for “Smoking Tigers,” Yoo notes that a lot of preparation went into the role, and she tapped into advice that she received from Jason Segel, one of her costars in the Josephine Decker-directed film “The Sky Is Everywhere.”
“He told me that when I’m facing down a job that is an intimidating character or a tough scene, that the best thing I can do for myself is to be so prepared that acting is the easiest part of my day,” she says. “I took that to ‘Expats,’ and I think because of the experience shooting a limited series, I knew exactly the kinds of things I needed to prepare for [‘Smoking Tigers’] where I’m really in every scene of the movie.”
Yoo describes “Expats,” adapted from a novel by Janice Y.K. Lee, as a “once-in-a-lifetime” experience. “It’s not often you get an opportunity to be in a show opposite Nicole Kidman and to go and shoot in Hong Kong for six months,” she says. “It was a really difficult role and the show is not a lighthearted show, but it was a very fulfilling process for me.”
The day after Yoo wrapped filming for “Smoking Tigers” at the end of last year, she flew to Oakland to work on “Freaky Tales,” directed by Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck. The film, set in the late ’80s, costars Pedro Pascal and Ben Mendelsohn.
Yoo, who’s in her early 20s and started acting as a teenager after switching her focus from dance, is off to a strong start in the industry. Last week, the day before the premiere of “Smoking Tigers,” Yoo was at Chanel’s luncheon for the “Through Her Lens” program supporting women in film.
“I’ve had the honor of working with virtually all female directors since I started my professional career,” says Yoo. “I do think initiatives like ‘Through her Lens’ are really important to create space for women and nonbinary people and people who have been historically marginalized in our industry,” she adds. “That [event] was amazing. I got to have a chat with Stephanie Hsu and Greta Lee. And as a dancer, Misty Copeland being there was just like — I was fangirling internally the entire time.”
Her agenda for the remainder of the festival included a few screenings (Randall Park’s directorial debut “Shortcomings” was on the list) and continuing to make new connections. “It’s been a really lovely experience getting to meet so many talented people,” Yoo says. “There’s a lot of really young, talented filmmakers who I can’t wait to see what they do next.”
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