I'm so happy to meet you, too.

Thank you for being here in person, and congratulations on the win on Critics' Choice.

I mean, that's, that's a big deal.

How do you feel?

I felt really nice.

Um, that was actually my first award, so yeah.

Yeah.

And, and, did you, were you, are you normally an emotional person or, did, what made you cry?

Did you just all of a sudden, did that surprise you?

Well, I mean, uh, how do I say this?

Uh, I felt a lot of emotions all at once, um, and that made tears and burst.

Yeah.

But it was great because it was real, you know, instead of some kind of, you know, planned speech or whatever, you were just real, which I think a lot of people are responding to.

Um, you were pinching your cheeks like you do in the movie to see if you're awake or you're dreaming.

Is that something you are doing because it happened in the movie or did you do that before you were doing it in the movie?

I actually did that after the movie, and when I did the movie because I actually had no idea if I was actually dreaming or not.

Right.

But now, now you know that you were not dreaming.

Yeah.

Yeah.

When did you realize, oh, this is not a dream: I'm winning an award?

I'm not sure.

I still feel like it's a dream.

Yeah, well, it's not.

It's not, and you're right here right now.

So, you're not dreaming now either.

So, you've been acting for two years but not really - you've never done a movie.

You've been trying to get something and then this is your first movie that you've ever done.

Yes, that is my first movie and...

They were looking for someone who spoke, uh, English and, and Korean, and you spoke both, and you're just so good in this movie because it's just - I mean, it's amazing to me that that was your first movie.

I was watching it thinking how natural you were.

Did you love doing it?

Yeah, it was really nice.

Yeah.

Do you want to do another movie?

Yeah, I want to do a bunch of other movies.

Yeah, because it was virtual - you were, you were at home, I assume.

Did you do something to celebrate when you won?

Yeah, um, I had a pizza party, and, we, I bought a red carpet.

And I'm like, I know what a red carpet is, but what is it for?

Yeah, I think it's... I don't know why.

I don't know.

It started as a thing and everybody does red carpet.

Yeah.

You're famous now are people like, do people recognize you? Do they want selfies?

I mean, like since of COVID, I mean, obviously I can't, but in Utah, Salt Lake City, um, I did an autograph there and that was in Sundance.

I see, I see, and where do you live?

Do you live here in Los Angeles?

No, I actually live an hour away in Irvine.

I see, I know where that is.

Um, okay, so you've been in a movie, you won an award, but there's something else exciting that happened this year.

Tell everybody what you did.

I got a dog.

You've got a doggy.

And he came from Korea, right?

Yes, which, which kind of gets weird because we did like a camera test to see, like, what breed he is, and it said it was an American Eskimo dog, so I'm like, but it's from Korea.

-Anyway, he's one. -He's very cute.

What's his name?

His name is Cream.

Cream because his color is kind of cream colored - I get it.

It's a good name.

-Is that your only pet? You have that one dog? -Yeah.

Yeah, that's great.

-He must be so happy because you rescued him. -Yeah, and...

Okay.

Um, so I noticed that you like to wear suits, but you're gonna to probably do a lot more like award shows and stuff.

And since it's virtual, they only see the top of you.

So, we got you something, so you'd be cozy and comfy at home, but you look good.

So, it's sweat pants on the bottom and then it looks like you're all dressed up on top.

Oh, thank you.

You're welcome.

Congratulations on the movie.

It's called "Minari."

It's in theaters and available on demand on digital platforms now.

We'll be right back - Alan Kim.