Aurora Starchild
Michelle Yeoh is hands down the most iconic female martial arts actress on the planet. She’s been knocking audience’s socks off for over 40 years with her grace, poise, athleticism, beauty, and talent. But Yeoh has also been spearheading change in a variety of genres for women everywhere. Meet the Michelle Yeoh, the first Asian-identifying woman to not just be nominated for, but to win an Oscar for Best Actress.
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Oscar-Winning Actress Michelle Yeoh’s First Passion Is Ballet
Michelle Yeoh (Michelle Khan) was born August 6, 1962, in Malaysia. Her father was a lawyer,and her mother was a beauty queen. Yeoh studied ballet starting at the age of four. Surprisingly, she wasn’t really a trained martial artist prior to her work in film. She’s actually just so strong and skilled at dance that she can pull off all the moves (like roundhouse kicks)!
Michelle Yeoh’s family relocated to the UK when she was 15. She went on to study ballet at London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Dance. After a spinal injury abruptly halted her ballet dreams, Yeoh refocused on choreography and returned to Malaysia. She won the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant in 1983, which led to an audition for a commercial with Jackie Chan. She made the cut and starred alongside Chan in a Hong Kong watch commercial in 1984.
Yeoh grew up speaking Malay and English but, when she jumped into martial arts films (based in Hong Kong) in the 80s, began learning Cantonese. Her first film was The Owl vs Bumbo in 1984. It wasn’t a martial arts film, but it paved the way to more work — and a drive to do more than just be a pretty face.
Yeoh Starred Alongside Jackie Chan in Supercop
“When I started off in 1984, women were relegated to being the damsel in distress,” Yeoh told People. “We need to be protected, according to our guys. But then I would go, ‘No, guys, I think we can protect ourselves pretty well. And if push comes to shove, maybe I can protect you too.’”
The following year, Yeoh played a Judo instructor in Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars. Also appearing in the film was Jackie Chan. The two would reunite 6 years later for the 1992 film Supercop, making Yeoh an official Hollywood star. It wasn’t that the film was made in the US, but rather that Yeoh would forever be associated with the iconic Jackie Chan. But she may have done it all without Chan anyways. Prior to Supercop, she kept landing roles that showcased her agility, officially becoming a Hong Kong movie star.
Yeoh Was a Badass Bond Girl Alongside Pierce Brosnan in Tomorrow Never Dies
After Yeoh’s big Hollywood film debut in 1992, she was officially a legend. Then in 1997, she played the Chinese spy Wai Lin alongside Pierce Brosnan in Tomorrow Never Dies. Again, Yeoh was breaking the glass ceiling for women everywhere.
“The first movie I did after I came to America was Tomorrow Never Dies with Pierce Brosnan,” Yeoh told People. “James Bond at that point had only been known as macho, and the girls were just the ones with cutesy names.” But despite her success at breaking the Bond Girl mold, producers still wanted to keep Yeoh in a box.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon Became an Instant Classic
“I didn’t work for almost two years, until Crouching Tiger, simply because I could not agree with the stereotypical roles that were put forward to me,” Yeoh told People.
Then came Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon in 2000, perhaps one of the world’s most beloved martial arts films. The romance, the scenery, the costumes, and of course, the ethereal, gravity-defying martial arts battles made the movie an instant classic. Five years later, she starred as Mameha in Memoirs of a Geisha.
The role stepped back from Yeoh’s usual fighter role, into one based in drama. The fight now was with gender roles, servitude within the sex trade, and using one’s (often publicly subdued) wits to get ahead in business. But Yeoh wasn’t alone. Most of the period drama’s main actors were martial arts movie stars: Ziyi Zang co-starred in Crouching Tiger and Ken Watanabe has portrayed samurais and karate experts. For Yeoh and her co-stars, this was a chance to remind everyone just how versatile they are, even without doing splits.
Michelle Yeoh Is, Undeniably, Legendary
Michelle Yeoh has since dabbled in almost every genre, always perfecting her part. She’s done sci-fi: Babylon A.D., Star Trek: Discovery. She was Aleta Ogord in Guardians of the Galaxy 2. And she’s done the feel-good Christmas movie in Last Christmas. Then there was rom-com Crazy Rich Asians, which garnered the actors a SAG Award and a National Board of Review Award for best cast.
But it was Everything Everywhere All at Once, released last year, that has truly and finally put Michelle Yeoh in the spotlight. Its Matrix-esque timeline, action-packed plot features Yeoh at her prime. She’s had 40 years to perfect her craft and she stuns. Evelyn Wang is a Chinese immigrant-turned-superhero, trying to save the universe.
For this, Michelle Yeoh has been nominated for 84 awards and won 46 of them. Her wins include a Golden Globe, a Saturn Award, and a Satellite Award all for Best Actress. She also won two Screen Actors Guild Awards, one for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role and another for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. Yeoh was also recently honored with the Dilys Powell Award for Excellence in Film and the International Star Award for an Actress, both in 2023.
Michelle Yeoh Is the First Asian-Identifying Woman to Be Nominated for a Best Actress Oscar
And then there was the Oscar nomination. Michelle Yeoh was the first Asian-identifying actress to have ever been nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress. Technically, there was another Asian woman to be nominated for the award. Merle Oberon was a mixed-race (Southeast Asian diaspora and British) woman who received the nomination in 1936. However, she tried to hide this and bleached her skin to make herself appear whiter.
But times have changed and Michelle Yeoh is part of the change. After spending the majority of her 60 years on the planet fighting to be heard, to be seen, not just as an artist but as a woman of strength, a woman of power, the nomination was huge.
That doesn’t even touch on the fact that so many Asians and Pacific Islanders have had to contend with an unheard-of level of hate and bigotry in recent years. For Yeoh to win the Oscar means so much more than her talent being recognized. It’s a win for women of color, for Asian women, and for women who want to push past the barriers that others impose on us.
“I’m very aware that [the nomination is] beyond me being recognised as an actress. It’s a whole community of Asians coming forward and saying: You have to do this for us,” Yeoh told BBC of her nomination (via Deadline). “Asians tend to not show so much emotion. And I think maybe it’s a misconception that we don’t need our stories told, which is not true. It’s how we tell the story that makes a difference. The audience wants Hollywood to reflect the global community.”
Michelle Yeoh Makes History as First Asian Woman to Win Oscar for Best Actress
And then she won!
“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities,” Yeoh said in her acceptance speech. (By the way, she looked amazing in Dior Couture at the award ceremony). “This is proof that dreams dream big, and dreams do come true.”
