'Minari' actress Yuh-Jung Youn said it is 'stressful' to be the first South Korean actress nominated at the Oscars

• "Minari" actress Youn Yuh-Jung said it is "stressful" to be such a historic nomination at the Oscars.
• She is up for Best Supporting Actress, the first South Korean actress to be nominated in an acting category.
• The actress also won awards at this year's BAFTA Awards and Screen Actor Guild Awards.

"Minari" actress Youn Yuh-Jung said it is "very stressful" to be the first Korean actress nominated in an acting category at the Oscars.

Youn, whose career in film and television spans over five decades, was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the grandmother in Lee Isaac Chung's "Minari," which was also nominated for Best Picture.

"I was just very happy being nominated," she said, according to a report from Indiewire. "I never even dreamed about being nominated for an Oscar. People will be very happy for me if I get the win, but it's very stressful."

She likened the burden of being nominated to that of athletes competing in the Olympics.

"It's not like I'm representing the country by going to the Olympics, but I feel like I'm competing for my country," she said.

Youn was nominated in the Best Supporting Actress along with Maria Bakalova for "Borat Subsequent Moviefilm," Glenn Close for "Hillbilly Elegy," Olivia Colman for "The Father," and Amanda Seyfriend for "Mank."

The South Korean actress also won awards for her "Minari" performance at this year's BAFTA Awards and Screen Actor Guild Awards. She will attend the 93rd Academy Awards this weekend in person but said her son had some concerns about her being in the US amid the recent surge of anti-Asian hate and discrimination in the country.

"My son, who is Korean American, is living in the States," Youn said. "He was worried about me coming to the States for the Oscars, because he was scared I would get hurt. He asked, 'Don't you need to have some guard or something like that?' It's a sad thing. Just because you are Asian, there's no reason to be attacked randomly like that."