Sandra Oh Age, Height, Partner, Net Worth & Biography

Sandra Oh is a Canadian actress whose sharp wit, emotional range and fearless choice of roles have made her one of the most respected performers in television and film. At 55, the Nepean, Ontario native is best known as Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy and as Eve Polastri on Killing Eve, two roles that earned her Golden Globe Awards and a place in television history. From her early breakthrough in Canadian independent film to headlining prestige dramas, Oh has built a career defined by complexity, humour and staying power.

Quick Facts

Full Name	Sandra Miju Oh
Age	55 years old (as of 2026)
Date of Birth	July 20, 1971
Birthplace	Nepean, Ontario, Canada
Height	5 ft 5 in (165 cm)
Partner	Not publicly in a relationship (as of 2026); previously married to director Alexander Payne (2003–2006)
Net Worth	Approx. $25 million (Celebrity Net Worth, 2025)
Known For	Grey’s Anatomy, Killing Eve, Sideways, The Chair

Who Is Sandra Oh?

Sandra Oh is a Canadian actress of Korean descent who has spent more than three decades moving between independent film, network television and prestige streaming drama. She first drew wide attention in Canada with the 1994 film Double Happiness, winning a Genie Award for Best Actress, and later became a household name in the United States as the ambitious, fiercely loyal surgeon Cristina Yang on ABC’s long-running medical drama Grey’s Anatomy. Her turn as intelligence officer Eve Polastri on the BBC America thriller Killing Eve brought her a second Golden Globe and made her the first Asian woman to win the award for Best Actress in a television drama.

What sets Oh apart is her refusal to be boxed in. She has played comic scene-stealers, dramatic leads, voice roles in major animated films and satirical turns on streaming comedies, often in the same year. In 2019 she co-hosted the Golden Globe Awards with Andy Samberg, becoming the first Asian woman to host the ceremony, and the same year she was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada. Colleagues and critics alike praise her precision: whether she is delivering a punchline or a breakdown, Oh makes every choice look effortless.

Early Life & Background

Sandra Miju Oh was born on July 20, 1971, in Nepean, Ontario — now part of Ottawa — to Korean immigrant parents. Her father, Oh Junsu, worked in business, and her mother, Jeon Young-nam, was a biochemist. Raised in a household that valued education and discipline, Oh began acting in school plays at the age of ten and trained in ballet growing up, developing the physical control that later became a hallmark of her screen work.

After high school at Sir Robert Borden in Ottawa, Oh briefly studied journalism at Carleton University before choosing acting full time. She enrolled at the National Theatre School of Canada in Montreal and graduated in 1993, quickly finding work on Canadian stages and screens. Her first major film role, as Jade Li in Double Happiness (1994), a young woman caught between her traditional Korean family and her own ambitions, mirrored parts of her own upbringing and announced a performer of unusual candour and depth.

Career

Oh’s early career mixed Canadian film and television with American supporting roles, including parts in Under the Tuscan Sun (2003) and the HBO film The Diary of Evelyn Lau. Her breakthrough in the United States came with Alexander Payne’s Sideways (2004), in which she played Stephanie, a wine-pourer whose romance with Thomas Haden Church’s character turns volatile; the ensemble won a Screen Actors Guild Award. A year later she joined Grey’s Anatomy as Cristina Yang, the fiercely competitive surgical resident whose friendship with Meredith Grey anchored the show’s early years. Oh stayed for ten seasons, from 2005 to 2014, winning a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress in 2006 and earning five Emmy nominations for the role.

After leaving Grey’s Anatomy, Oh reinvented herself again. She starred as Eve Polastri in Killing Eve (2018–2022), the thriller built around her cat-and-mouse obsession with assassin Villanelle, played by Jodie Comer. The role won her a second Golden Globe in 2019 and further Emmy nominations. She also headlined and executive-produced the Netflix academic satire The Chair (2021), voiced Ming Lee in Pixar’s Turning Red (2022) and Virana in Raya and the Last Dragon (2021), and starred alongside Awkwafina in the comedy Quiz Lady (2023). Her later projects include the HBO limited series The Sympathizer (2024) and the film Good Fortune (2025), continuing a run of work that spans genres, mediums and continents — a range few of her contemporaries can match, as fellow television star Jennifer Garner has also shown across her own career on Alias and beyond.

Facts About Sandra Oh

• Sandra Oh won the Genie Award for Best Actress for Double Happiness (1994), her first leading film role.
• She was the first Asian woman to host the Golden Globe Awards, co-hosting the 2019 ceremony with Andy Samberg.
• Oh played Dr. Cristina Yang on Grey’s Anatomy for ten seasons, from 2005 to 2014, earning five Emmy nominations for the role.
• She was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada in 2019 for her contributions to the arts.
• Oh voiced Ming Lee in Pixar’s Turning Red (2022) and Virana in Disney’s Raya and the Last Dragon (2021).

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