Publications
Partners
She's jumped off sky-scrapers, flung herself out of cars and risked life and limb on more jaw-dropping stunts. Being a Bond girl, a martial-arts warrior, a geisha, scientist, professor and domineering mother – she’s been there, done that too.
Now, Michelle Yeoh's fans have finally got what they’ve demanded for years: recognition for her talent and prowess on the silver screen, now that she's won Best Actress at the 2023 Oscars.
"For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities," she said in her speech.
"And ladies, don't let anybody tell you that you are ever past your prime."
Michelle took home the gold statuette for her role as a disgruntled laundromat owner in the Amazon Prime sci-fi comedy Everything Everywhere All at Once, which also cleaned up at the Oscars with seven awards.
"This is proof that dreams do come true," Michelle said in her speech. "I have to dedicate this to all the moms in the world because they are the superheroes, and without them, none of us would be here tonight."
Michelle's been riding a wave of success.
Time magazine named the 60-year-old film veteran its Icon of the Year and she was among Entertainment Weekly’s top entertainers of 2022. She’s also set to star in the Avatar sequels and starred in The Witcher: Blood Origin, which was released on Christmas Day last year.
The accolades coming her way are well deserved, but why has it taken so long for the entertainment world to take note?
Michelle, who had her first big-screen role in the ’80s, doesn’t mince her words.
READ MORE | Zoleka Mandela perseveres in the face of her ongoing cancer battle
“It shouldn’t be about my race,” she says. “But it’s been a battle.”
During her four-decade career Michelle has often found herself being offered stereotypical or inconsequential roles and has rarely been given top billing in Hollywood movies.
Action star Jet Li is thrilled to see Michelle being given the chance to flex her dramatic acting muscles.
“She usually plays masters, tough fighters,” says Jet, her co-star in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008). “The action, I know she can do it. But really acting from the heart, believing the part, makes the movie special.”
Charlize Theron, who starred with Michelle in the film The School for Good and Evil, considers herself “a massive fan” and also previously mentioned how much she wanted her co-star to take home an Oscar.
“Give her all the awards!” Charlize says.
Michelle very nearly didn’t become an actress. While growing up in Ipoh, Malaysia, her first love was ballet. Her lawyer father, Kian Teik, and devoted mother, Janet, who were of Chinese descent, sent her to boarding school in England when she was 15.
Michelle later enrolled to study ballet at London’s Royal Academy of Dance. Even though she was told she was “too stubby” to be a ballerina, she persevered – but a back injury put an end to her dream. She stayed on at the academy, studying choreography as well as drama, which she reportedly hated.
But her mom was determined that her daughter’s talent and beauty wouldn’t go unnoticed. When Michelle returned to her homeland at the age of 20, she was astonished to discover Janet had signed her up for the Miss Malaysia pageant. She ended up winning the title and new doors suddenly started opening for her.
First came the chance to star with Jackie Chan in a TV advert and that allowed her to catch the attention of a Hong Kong film production company, which led to roles in a string of action movies. Then in 1988 she decided to give it all up after marrying Hong Kong billionaire Dickson Poon (66).
“Acting was never my burning ambition – it fell into my lap – and [after marriage] my priorities changed,” she says. “It was a choice I made and I believed in it. I believed that [getting married] would be so I could have a family. Unfortunately, I couldn’t. I tried IVF, everything.”
After three years the marriage was over and Michelle returned to acting. But in the early ’90s she seriously considered quitting again after fracturing her vertebrae while falling from a bridge during a daring stunt scene.
READ MORE | TV presenter Leanne Manas is looking forward to a festive season filled with good food, fun times and family
“I thought I broke my back. I thought I was paralysed,” she recalls. Renowned director Quentin Tarantino persuaded her not to throw in the towel – he flew over to Hong Kong and begged her not to give up.
“I must say, Quentin, he’s persistent,” Michelle says. “He wore me down.”
A short while later she signed on to be in the Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies opposite Pierce Brosnan. Then came her role in the 2000 martial-arts fantasy Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
Director Ang Lee says he burst into tears on set because he was so blown away by her performance as warrior Yu Shu Lien. At the time, he thought the role must surely be the peak of her career.
“But she just went on making good performances year after year,” he says.
Her role as a wealthy mother who strongly disapproves of her son’s relationship in 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians also created award buzz. Kevin Kwan, the author of the book on which the movie is based, says there was a push for her to be nominated for an Oscar, but it came to nothing. “Hopefully that planted a seed,” he says.
It seems Michelle has no intention of slowing down. She insists on doing her own stunts even though she’s suffered a long list of painful on-set injuries over the years, including a dislocated shoulder, a fractured rib, a ruptured artery and a torn cruciate ligament.
Once she leapt from a speeding van and nearly died after falling onto the pavement. But she picked herself up immediately and did the stunt again.
A practising Buddhist, Michelle has a zen attitude to setbacks and disappointments.
“I go forward because life is about moving forward,” she says. “Failures make us stronger, and they make us understand the path.”
When she’s not working, she jets between her homes in France, Switzerland and Malaysia, which she shares with her partner, Jean Todt (77), who’s French.
Jean, the recently retired president of the Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile, which oversees the Formula One World Championship, met Michelle in Shanghai in 2004 and they got engaged the following year. They’ve yet to tie the knot.
Michelle previously shared how much winning an Oscar would mean not just for herself, but also for the Asian community.
“They come up to me and say, ‘You’re doing it for us.’”
But adds that she's also really thrilled that teens are discovering her movies.
“Teens will come up to me at the supermarket and say, ‘You’re cool! Can we have a picture with you?’” she says.
“Outwardly, I’ll smile and say, ‘Of course!’ But inwardly, I’m pumping my fist, screaming, ‘Yes! Finally! I’m cool!’”
SOURCES: TIME.COM, PEOPLE.COM, SCMP.COM, LIFESTYLEASIA.COM, TOWNANDCOUNTRYMAG.COM, YOU.CO.UK, LATIMES.COM
