Awkwafina's Golden Globe win is a first for an Asian American actress

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Awkwafina backstage acknowledges the historic recognition.

It was an historic moment in Asian American history when Awkwafina won the Golden Globe for an Actress in A Musical or Comedy for her role in American production, The Farewell.

She became the first actress of Asian descent to win that award. Last year, Constance Wu was nominated in the same category for her role in Crazy Rich Asians but didn't win.

Sandra Oh also won a Golden Globe last year for "Killing Eve" in the Best Actress in a TV Dramatic Series.

Awkwafina, better known for her comedic roles, challenged herself with the dramatic role of Billi, an Asian American who visits her family in China and her grandmother who doesn't know that she is dying from cancer.

Clasping her award, she joked, "If I fall upon hard times I can sell this, so that’s good.”

SCREEN CAPTURE

Awkwafina publicly thanked 'The Farewell's' director Lulu Wang, left, and costar Zhao Shuzhen.

She thanked the movie's director Lulu Wang, who also wrote the script based on her own real-life experience. She told Wang, "You gave me this chance -- the chance of a lifetime."

Backstage, Awkwafina when told about the historic nature of her award, she said, “I just heard that fact and it was pretty mind blowing,” she began. “There’s also this other feeling that you want there to be more, and I hope this is just the beginning.”

“Immigrants in this country who were raised to feel very American ... and when we go back where, you know, we’re told that you don’t belong here and you go back to where you belong,” she continued.

”You feel like a stranger there and this constant feeling of being lost in translation. And I think that’s what really resonated with me in The Farewell.”

Awkwafna's recognition was celebrated by a host of fellow Asian Americans in the entertainment industry.

The Farewell was also nominated in the Best Foreign Language Movie category but lost out to the South Korean thriller Parasite. It was the first time a South Korean film won a Golden Globe.

Accepting the award was Bong Joon-ho, who was also nominated for Best Director. speaking through an interpreter, Bong Joon-ho said, "Once you overcome the one-inch tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films,"  

"Just being nominated along with fellow, amazing international filmmakers was a huge honor."

The filmmaker then added in English, "I think we use only one language: the cinema."

Earlier in the day, Parasite, which opened in October to ecstatic review, also was named the year’s best film by the National Society of Film Critics. With the Golden Globe Award, it has increased its chances of being nominated for an Academy Award, either in Best Movie or Best Foreign Movie categories. 

Awkwafina's name has already been bruited about as a nominee in the Best Actress award for an Oscar, but competition is stiff. Unlike the Golden Globes, the Academy Awards doesn't separate comedic roles from dramatic roles and competition is very stiff.

With the exception for awards for Awkwafina and Parasite, the Golden Globe awardees were almost colorless. No African American or Latino actors or projects won in the major categories. That raises the question of the diversity of the 90 members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, who vote for the Golden Globes.