If May December’s Charles Melton was looking to make us swoon—he did that long ago. But the actor’s decision to bring his mother, Sukyong, with him as his date to tonight’s Golden Globes only cements his place in our hearts.
Melton—wearing Armani tonight—is nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his star turn as Joe Yoo in the film, which is generating awards buzz for him all the way up to the Oscars. The 32-year-old has already taken home Gotham and New York Critics’ Circle Awards for his performance, which he nails alongside heavy Hollywood hitters like Julianne Moore and Natalie Portman. Moore plays Joe’s wife, Gracie; they’re a suburban couple with two kids and, well, how shall we say it? A complicated past: when they met, Gracie was a 36-year-old housewife—and Joe was a seventh grader.
Melton gained over 35 pounds for the role of Joe, and May December director Todd Haynes said his good looks were actually a negative when it came to casting him in the role. “I’m so grateful Charles Melton came into our consciousness,” Haynes told Vulture, adding that “his looks were almost a deterrent. I felt that Joe would be a good looking man, but Charles has that sort of hunkiness and pin-up quality that wasn’t necessarily how I pictured him.”
Melton—perhaps best known prior to May December as the character Reggie Mantle on Riverdale—not only holds his own in the film but has sent his star skyrocketing with his portrayal of the complicated Joe, who faces repressed trauma when Portman’s character Elizabeth arrives to shadow the Yoos as she prepares to play Gracie in an upcoming movie. The movie, released just last month, has opened up new levels of fame for Melton, but it seems he’s honoring where (and who) he came from in the form of his date to tonight’s awards.
Melton, who has brought his mother as his date to multiple awards shows over the years, has referred to Sukyong as his biggest cheerleader and his “hero”; in a 2019 Good Morning America interview, he recalled his mother’s support when he first moved to L.A. to pursue an acting career. He said that, at the time, she and his grandmother packed “60 cans of tuna, 60 cans of chicken noodle soup” and almonds ahead of his cross-country drive.
“My mom said, ‘It’s gonna be good,’” Melton said. “‘It’s gonna be tough for two months. If you don’t work or make any money, you’ll have this.’ This is the best that she could do. I wouldn’t change my relationship with my mother for anything—like, anything. That’s my queen.”
Melton may be the most recent actor to bring his mom as his date to an awards show, but he’s certainly not the first. Ryan Gosling, Matthew McConaughey, Timothée Chalamat, Michael B. Jordan, and Leonardo DiCaprio have all done the same (Bradley Cooper also has his mother on his arm for tonight’s awards)—so Melton is part of a truly swoon worthy tradition.
