S teven Yeun is somebody that people want to rally around. When we worked on the 2018 film Sorry to Bother You together, he would come on set and lift the collective energy of everyone with his natural spirit. He has such a tremendous capacity for compassion, for empathy, for love, for vulnerability, for care. In Minari , all of these things were seamlessly funneled into his role as the family’s hardworking father. He’s handled the accolades from that film—including, in 2021, becoming the first Asian American to ever be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor —with a tremendous amount of grace.

Steven has always cared for the people in his community, and seeing his leadership gives me hope that we will come to a place where accomplishments like the ones he’s achieved will be frankly just less noteworthy. He’s a deeply fantastic human and a true leading man. It’s been very gratifying to see him become one of the Internet’s boyfriends.

Thompson is an actor and producer

Contact us at letters@time.com .