HOLLYWOOD — Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh is the first Malaysian as well as the first Asian to win Best Actress at the 95th Academy Awards today for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
The multiverse however, is merely the latest chapter in her success story, as the 60-year-old Perak born actress has had quite a journey, appearing in over 70 films and television performances.
Yeoh was born to an upper class family in Ipoh and started in ballet as a student at the Royal Academy of Dance in London at age 15.
It was short-lived after she succumbed to a back injury.
Yeoh then had a brief stint in the world of pageants where she had won a couple of competitions, including being crowned Miss World Malaysia in 1983.
She was then presented with the opportunity to go on set together with martial arts star Jackie Chan for the first time in a watch commercial.
It was not long before Yeoh made her big screen debut in the 1984 Hong Kong action comedy film, The Owl vs Bumbo.
Drawn to the action sequences in the film, Yeoh began training in stunt choreography and appeared in a couple of martial arts movies in 1985 in Yes Madam! and Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars.
1992 was a benchmark year for Yeoh with the release of famous Hong Kong cop flick, Supercop also known as Police Story 3 which was shot in KL, where Yeoh did her first of many iconic stunts including riding a motorcycle on top of a train with Jackie Chan as the lead actor.
After a series of Hong Kong films, Yeoh left her mark to a wider audience after being cast as the British spy Wai Lin in the 1997 James Bond film, Tomorrow Never Dies.
Yeoh attracted more attention of global audiences with the release of the award-winning 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
The film, directed by Ang Lee, won multiple awards including the Academy Awards for Best International Feature Film and Academy Awards for Best Cinematography in 2001.
In the following years, she starred in many highly acclaimed films such as 2005’s Memoirs of a Geisha, Sunshine (2007) as well as historical drama The Lady (2011).
Yeoh then appeared in a couple of Marvel superhero films including Guardians of the Galaxy Volume 2 as well as in Shang Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
She is also known for her more recent role as the ‘evil mother-in-law’ in the 2018 romantic comedy film Crazy Rich Asians.
Other notable achievements by Yeoh include being named Time Magazine’s Icon of the year in 2022 as well as being the Goodwill Ambassador of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in March 2016.
Yeoh will be reuniting alongside the familiar names of Everything Everywhere All at Once in Stephanie Hsu and Ke Huy Quan, for a Disney+ upcoming series titled American Born Chinese out on May 24.
