Sandra Oh Celebrates SWAN Day 2008
By Telling Us About Her Favorite Woman Artist!

Sandra Oh, star of the hit television series, Grey’s Anatomy, and the movie Sideways, took time out from her busy schedule to celebrate SWAN Day with us by talking about one of her favorite women artists, Björk. We admire Sandra for her own bold work on stage and screen, and it was fascinating to learn that she feels she is able to be braver and more true to herself because of Björk’s powerful role model.

We believe that women artists will make much more progress if we work actively to inspire and help each other, and this is a major theme of SWAN Day. If you would like to share a story about a time when you were inspired, gained courage, or learned something important from another woman artist, please write to us. We want women all over the world to see how powerful this kind of mutual support can be, and we will be posting more stories and videos in the coming months.

For those of you who don’t know her work, Björk, is an award-winning Icelandic singer-songwriter, composer, actress and music producer. She is best known for her expressive vocals, her interest in many kinds of music, and her innovative costumes. Her song “I’ve Seen It All” in the film Dancer in the Dark was nominated for an Academy Award for “Best Original Song”, and she made a deep impression on millions of television viewers by performing her nominated song in a swan costume. In case you missed it, you can still find copies of the video if you search for it YouTube.

Thanks so much to Sandra Oh for sharing her thoughts and to Jacqui Barcos for directing this video. Thanks also to the Alliance of Women Directors (www.allianceofwomendirectors.org) for their help with this project.

This video was made possible by a special gift from the Juanita R. Miller SWAN Day Fund.