Michelle Yeoh Choo KhengPSM (/ˈjoʊ/YOH; born Yeoh Choo Kheng; 6 August 1962)[1][2] is a Malaysian actress. Credited as Michelle Khan in her early films, she rose to fame in the 1990s after starring in a series of Hong Kong action films where she performed her own stunts, such as Yes, Madam (1985), Police Story 3: Supercop (1992) and Holy Weapon (1993). She gained international recognition for her roles in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and in Ang Lee's martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). The latter role earned her a BAFTA Best Actress nomination.
The film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes ranked her the greatest action heroine of all time in 2008.[5] In 1997, she was chosen by People as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World", and in 2009 the same magazine listed her as one of the "35 All-Time Screen Beauties".[6] In 2022, Time named her one of the world's 100 most influential people on its annual listicle and its Icon of the Year.[7][8]
Yeoh was keen on dance from an early age, beginning ballet at the age of four. She studied at Main Convent Ipoh, an all-girls secondary school, as a primary student. At the age of 15, she moved with her parents to the United Kingdom, where she was enrolled in an all-girls boarding school.[15][16] Yeoh later studied at the UK's Royal Academy of Dance in London, majoring in ballet. However, a spinal injury prevented her from becoming a professional ballet dancer, and she transferred her attention to choreography and other arts.[17] She received a BA degree in creative arts with a minor in drama in 1982.[14][18]
In 1983, at the age of 20, Yeoh won the Miss Malaysia World contest.[19] She was Malaysia's representative at Miss World 1983 pageant in London where she overall placed at the 18th position over 72 delegates from all around the world. Later that year, she traveled to Australia where she won Miss Moomba International 1984 pageant.[20][21][22][23] From there, she appeared in a television commercial with Jackie Chan which caught the attention of a fledgling Hong Kong film production company, D&B Films. Although she had passive understanding of Ipoh Cantonese of her hometown, she properly learned to speak and write Cantonese when she began her career in Hong Kong.[13][14]
Yeoh started her film career acting in action and martial arts films, where she did most of her own stunts.[24] Already with her third credit, Yes, Madam (1985), she was given a main role.[17] She was credited as Michelle Khan in these earlier films. This alias was chosen by D&B Films, who thought it might be more marketable to international and western audiences. Yeoh married Dickson Poon, who headed the D&B Group, in 1987 and retired from acting.
She changed her stage name back to Michelle Yeoh when she started her Hollywood career with Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997.[19] In the 1997 James Bond film, she played Wai Lin opposite star Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan was impressed, describing her as a "wonderful actress" who was "serious and committed about her work".[25] He referred to her as a "female James Bond" in reference to her combat abilities. She wanted to perform her own stunts but was prevented because director Roger Spottiswoode considered it too dangerous. Nevertheless, she performed all of her own fighting scenes.[26][27] In 1997, she played Soong Ai-ling in the award-winning The Soong Sisters. Yeoh was approached by director Ang Lee to star as Yu Shu Lien in her first Mandarin-language martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). She did not speak Mandarin until the 2000s, and she had to learn the Mandarin lines for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragonphonetically.[13] The film was an international success, and earned Yeoh a BAFTA 2000 nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.
Yeoh at the Singapore Press Conference for the Touch.
In 2002, Yeoh produced her first English film, The Touch, through her own production company Mythical Films. In 2005, Yeoh starred as Mameha in the film adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha, and she continued her English-language work in 2007 with Sunshine. In 2008, Yeoh starred in the fantasy action film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor with Brendan Fraser and Jet Li.[28] In 2011, she portrayed Aung San Suu Kyi in Luc Besson's The Lady.[29] Yeoh was blacklisted by the Burmese government allegedly because of her participation in The Lady; she was refused entry to Myanmar on 22 June 2011 and was deported on the same day.[30]
In October 2011, Yeoh was chosen by Guerlain to be its skincare ambassador.[31] Yeoh's role was to help strengthen the French cosmetics company's relationship with Asia.[32]
Yeoh did not branch out into television until 2015, with her first role playing Mei Foster, wife to the British Ambassador to Thailand, who is secretly a North Korean spy named Li-Na,[33] on the fifth season of the Cinemax/Sky series Strike Back.[34] In 2016, Yeoh was cast as Starfleet Captain Philippa Georgiou of the starship USS Shenzhou in the series Star Trek: Discovery, and recurs as Georgiou's "mirror" doppelganger later in the story.[35][36]
In 2022, Yeoh starred in the science fictionsurreal comedy film Everything Everywhere All at Once from filmmaking duo Daniels, released in March to mostly positive reviews.[41] In the film, she played struggling laundromat owner Evelyn Wang, a role that was praised by critics, with David Ehrlich of IndieWire claiming it the "greatest performance that Michelle Yeoh has ever given".[42][43][17] It was for this role that Yeoh earned her first Golden Globe win[44][45] and her first Oscar nomination.[46] Yeoh is the first Malaysian to be nominated for an Oscar and also made history as the first Asian to land the Best Actress nomination.[46]
Yeoh is set to appear in the upcoming Disney+ series American Born Chinese, based on the book of the same name by Gene Luen Yang.[47] In June 2022, it was announced that she will star in the eight-part series The Brothers Sun for Netflix.[48]
Following the success of Star Trek: Discovery, a spinoff series with Yeoh in the leading role, is in development.[49][50] The series centers on her character Emperor Georgiou working as a member of Section 31, a secret intergalactic spy organisation.
Yeoh is a Buddhist.[60][61] In March 2008, she visited Vietnam to film a documentary for the Asian Injury Prevention Foundation.[62] Yeoh is a patron of the Save China's Tigers project committed to protecting the endangered South China tiger.[63]
Michelle Yeoh's handprints on the "Avenue of Stars" in Hong Kong
In 1999, she was a member of the jury at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival.[64] On 19 April 2001, Yeoh was awarded the Darjah Datuk Paduka Mahkota Perak (DPMP), which carries the title Dato', by Sultan Azlan Shah, the Sultan of Perak, her home state, in recognition of the fame she brought to the state.[65] On 25 November 2002, Yeoh was honored as The Outstanding Young People of the World (TOYP) (Cultural Achievement) by JCI (Junior Chamber International).[66] On 23 April 2007, French PresidentJacques Chirac conferred upon Yeoh the title of Knight of the Legion of Honor (French: Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur). The decoration was presented to her in a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur on 3 October 2007.[67][68] She was promoted to Officer of the same French Order (Officier de la Légion d'honneur) by French President Nicolas Sarkozy on 14 March 2012 at a ceremony held at the president's residence, the Élysée Palace on that day,[69][70] and promoted to Commander (Commandeur), the highest honour available to non-French citizens, by François Hollande at the official residence of the French Ambassador in Kuala Lumpur in 2017.[71]
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↑ Gilbey, Ryan (January 2009). "All-action heroine". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 December 2022.
1 2 3 Kee Hua Chee (19 January 2004). "Her own person". The Star. Malaysia. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 13 November 2011. Interview.
↑ "Miss World 1983". MISS WORLD HISTORY / HISTORIA DE MISS MUNDO. 28 June 2020. Retrieved 1 February 2023.
Kho Tong Guan: Yeoh Chu Kheng, Michelle. In: Leo Suryadinata (ed.): Southeast Asian Personalities of Chinese Descent: A Biographical Dictionary, Volume I & II. Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, 2012, ISBN9789814345217, pp.1347–1350
Ken E. Hall: Michelle Yeoh. In: Garry Bettinson: Directory of World Cinema: CHINA 2. Intellect Books, 2015 ISBN9781783204007, pp.71–73
Lisa Funnell: Warrior Women: Gender, Race, and the Transnational Chinese Action Star. Suny Press, 2014, ISBN9781438452494, pp.31–57 (chapter Transnational Chinese Mothers: The Heroic Identities of Michelle Yeoh and Pei Pei Cheng)
Rikke Schubart: Super Bitches and Action Babes: The Female Hero in Popular Cinema, 1970–2006. McFarland, 2012 ISBN9780786482849, pp.123–143 (chapter Beautiful Vase Made of Iron and Steel Michelle Yeoh)
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