Emmy Winner Anna Sawai Had to 'Suppress a Lot' Early in Her Career Before Reaching Major Success (Exclusive)

After her history-making Emmys win for 'Shōgun', Sawai looks ahead and tells PEOPLE why "it's about time" for Asian women to be recognized in Hollywood

Anna Sawai is basking in that post-Emmys glow.

Four days after winning the outstanding lead actress in a drama series category for her performance in Shōgun, Sawai, 32, is in Melbourne Australia, already back to work, shooting the upcoming season of Monarch: Legacy of Monsters and doing press for her other Apple TV+ show, Pachinko, currently in its second season. But part of her is still at her big night in L.A.

“I'm very appreciative and it feels real, but then when I think about how no Asian woman in history had got that award, to me, it's amazing,” she says. “But also at the same time, it's like, it's about time. It's been 70-something years, so I'm just grateful that now the door has really started to open.”

Sawai started her showbiz career in music as part of the J-pop band FAKY before pivoting to acting, landing roles in Giri/Haji, F9 and Pachinko. She eventually had her breakout moment as somber translator Mariko in Shōgun.

Related: Shōgun's Anna Sawai Admits She Was 'Crying Before My Name Was Announced' as She Makes History with First Emmy Win

“I just want to do something that feels real to me,” she says. “Doing Shōgun really taught me [that] how much that you connect with the character, how much the character becomes you and you become her, really changes the weight of the character. And so I want to choose [work] that can be as good as that, or better.”

Hence the role she can currently be seen in, as ambitious financier Naomi in the Korean-Japanese drama Pachinko. Sawai says she was looking for a role that felt “grounded and where I could share my background.” But as one of the few women in her field at the time—Naomi’s story arc is set in ‘80s Japan—she also has to convey her character’s struggle to be heard.

It’s a feeling Sawai is familiar with. “I worked in the Japanese industry, and I don't want to talk only negative stuff about it, but it was really hard,” she says. “I had to really suppress a lot and say yes to a lot of things. And I tried to fight it in the beginning, but then slowly I started to internalize that, ‘Oh, I need to listen—they know more and I just have to be good.’”

Related: Shōgun's Anna Sawai Tears Up over 'Emotional' Emmy Nomination, Declares She's Leaving Music Career for Acting

She also drew upon her mother and grandmother’s experiences to understand the nuances of her Pachinko character’s era. “When I think about those women and how much they endured it wasn't even like I had really had to try and do my research in order to understand,” says the actress. “It was just like, oh, I know this. I've seen so many women go through this.”

Sawai experienced female connections of another sort after she had her history-making win at the Emmys, where she became the first woman of Asian descent to win her category.

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“I think Brie [Larson] also experienced something similar to me where she was in the room and then suddenly everyone knew her, and even more so than me, she won the Academy Award,” says Sawai of the Lessons in Chemistry star. “So when she saw me, she was like, 'How are you feeling?' And I was tearing up because it felt like she was really looking into my soul.”

Sawai adds, “It's these women who understand, who are there to support you, and lift each other up, that's what I've been receiving a lot lately. Eventually, I do want to be able to do that for other people.”

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