Sandra Oh and Awkwafina Formed a ‘Sisterly’ Bond Through Quiz Lady: ‘We Were Speaking Our Own Language’ (Exclusive)

Awkwafina caught the eye of Sandra Oh nearly a decade before they teamed up on the sister comedy Quiz Lady.

“I remember the first time I saw Nora,” Oh tells PEOPLE of her co-star, born Nora Lum. “She was on the cover of a magazine called Korea Am.”

“That’s when her rap song ‘My Vag’ came out,” continues Oh, 52. “I remember seeing this girl’s face, and I was like, ‘Who the hell is that?’ and then he kind of looked at her and said, ‘Fantastic.'”

Shortly after the 2013 cover, the duo reunited, but didn’t join forces until 2021 for an animated film, Raya and the last dragon. However, the full potential of their on-screen chemistry remained unrealized – until Quiz Lady.

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“It’s interesting because Ray, we were doing a lot during the pandemic, so we were never really together,” Awkwafina, 35, tells PEOPLE. “Sandra and I crossed paths and we love each other… Personally, I always wished for this kind of opportunity to work with her.”

Sandra Oh and Awkwafina as sisters Anne and Jenny Yum in ‘Quiz Lady’.

Michele K Short/20th Century Studies

In the feel-good film, Awkwafina and Oh portray the polar opposites of Anna and Jenny Yum. Anne (a shy game-obsessed creature of habit) teams up with Jenny (her flamboyant, impulsive older sister) to save their dog and pay off their mother’s gambling debts.

Awkwafina says she felt “naturally drawn to a person like Anna,” who is a far cry from the outspoken characters she usually portrays.

“I’ve always wanted to play a character like that, because that’s how I feel,” she says. “Sometimes I felt like that growing up, invisible in a way, just fumbling through life and also very quiet.”

“Mostly, though, I was very happy to witness Sandra’s portrayal of Jenny,” she adds of Oh’s chaotic, colorful character. “That was an amazing thing to witness.”

Sandra Oh and Awkwafina on bonding while playing sisters in the Quiz Lady: ‘It was so cool’ (exclusive video)

Awkwafina and Sandra Oh in ‘Quiz Lady’.

Courtesy of 20th Century Studios

As he entered the “brother’s pocket,” as Oh puts it, Grey’s Anatomy alum and Crazy rich Asians star says they’ve developed a sisterly bond off screen.

“We didn’t know each other very well before we started working,” Oh tells PEOPLE. “But we had a little bit — because we’re also producers on this — a longer runway and a lot more of a collaborative runway to create a piece and be invested in a piece. And it was also a building process for that relationship.”

“It’s so cool to talk to Sandra about her experiences in the industry,” adds Awkwafina. “She can understand me and what I’m going through in a very deep way. In that way, I feel like it’s a sisterly thing.”

“You don’t meet a lot of people like that in the industry,” she says.

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Sandra Oh and Awkwafina formed a “sisterly” bond while working on ‘Quiz Lady.’

Sandra Oh/Instagram

The pair reached peak sibling energy — improvising “exactly what sisters are like and how they fight” — during Oh’s favorite scene. The result? About “20 minutes of footage of me putting my leg on [Awkwafina’s] face,” he says with a laugh.

Oh was so “in the pocket” with her on-screen sister, she says, that she often forgot her improvised lines immediately after saying them.

“It was really fluid that way, Sandra. It was very smooth,” says Awkwafina, adding that Quiz Lady director Jessica Yu created an atmosphere of “trust” that paved the way for sibling-like improvisations.

“It was so freeing,” she adds. “It really felt like we were speaking our own language.”

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Quiz Lady is available to stream on Hulu.

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Source: HIS Education