Michelle Yeoh

1. Overview

Michelle Yeoh, born Yeoh Choo Kheng on August 6, 1962, is a highly acclaimed Malaysian actress who has achieved global recognition for her versatile performances across various film genres. Initially known as Michelle Khan in her early Hong Kong films, she rose to prominence in the 1980s and 1990s as a leading action star, performing many of her own stunts. Her career transitioned to international acclaim with roles in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and Ang Lee's martial arts epic Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).

Yeoh's career has been marked by a commitment to challenging stereotypes and advocating for diversity in Hollywood. Her recent work, particularly her starring role in Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), earned her numerous accolades, including the Academy Award for Best Actress, making her the first Asian actress to win in this category and the first Malaysian to receive an Academy Award. She also became the first Malaysian actor to win a Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy and the first Asian woman to win an individual lead film category at the Screen Actors Guild Awards. Beyond her acting, Yeoh is a dedicated activist and goodwill ambassador for various social causes, including road safety, wildlife conservation, environmental protection, and gender equality. Her influence extends beyond cinema, as recognized by Time magazine, which named her one of the world's 100 most influential people and its Icon of the Year in 2022. In 2024, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, for her continued efforts to shatter stereotypes and enrich American culture.

2. Early life and education

Michelle Yeoh was born Yeoh Choo Kheng on August 6, 1962, in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. Her parents are Janet Yeoh and Yeoh Kian-teik. Her father was a prominent figure, serving as an elected Senator of Malaysia from 1959 to 1969 as a member of the Malaysian Chinese Association for Perak. He also held the position of Chairman of the Perak Bar Association and founded "Sri Maju" in 1975, a major intercity coach service operating across Malaysia and Singapore.

Of Hokkien and Cantonese ancestry, Yeoh grew up speaking English with her father, who spoke Malay Chinese, and could understand some Malaysian Cantonese from her maternal grandmother, who lived with them. She later learned to speak Cantonese and Mandarin fluently after beginning her career in Hong Kong in the 1980s and 1990s. Despite her fluency, Yeoh has expressed regret over never learning to read or write Chinese characters.

Yeoh developed a passion for dance at an early age, starting ballet lessons at four. She attended the girls' school SMK Main Convent, Ipoh for her early education. At 15, she moved with her parents to the United Kingdom, where she enrolled in The Hammond School, Chester, to pursue training as a ballet dancer. However, a spinal injury at 17 prevented her from becoming a professional ballet dancer. This led her to shift her focus to choreography and other artistic pursuits. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree in creative arts with a minor in drama from Crewe + Alsager College of Higher Education in 1983.

3. Career

3.2. Rise as an action star (1992-2001)

After five years of marriage, Michelle Yeoh divorced Dickson Poon in 1992 and made a remarkable return to acting with Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992), co-starring with Jackie Chan. In this film, she famously performed a dangerous stunt where she jumped a motorcycle onto the roof of a moving cargo train without a stunt double. Her impressive combat abilities led co-star Pierce Brosnan to refer to her as a "female James Bond." Although director Roger Spottiswoode prevented her from performing all her own stunts in Tomorrow Never Dies due to safety concerns, she executed all her fighting scenes herself.

She continued to solidify her status as an action star, appearing in films such as The Heroic Trio (1993), and the Yuen Woo-ping-directed films Tai Chi Master (1993) and Wing Chun (1994).

In 1997, she reverted to her birth name, Michelle Yeoh, as she embarked on her Hollywood career with the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. In this film, she played Wai Lin opposite Pierce Brosnan, who praised her as a "wonderful actress" who was "serious and committed about her work." The same year, Yeoh portrayed Soong Ai-ling in the award-winning The Soong Sisters.

A significant turning point came in 2000 when director Ang Lee cast her as Yu Shu Lien in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, her first Mandarin-language martial arts film. At the time, Yeoh did not speak Mandarin and had to learn her lines phonetically. The film achieved international success, earning her a nomination for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role at the 54th British Academy Film Awards.

3.3. Hollywood and international career (2002-2016)

In 2002, Michelle Yeoh ventured into film production with her own company, Mythical Films, through which she produced her first English-language film, The Touch. Her career continued to expand with various international productions. In 2005, she starred as Mameha in the film adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha. She followed this with another English-language role in the 2007 science fiction thriller Sunshine. In 2008, Yeoh appeared in the fantasy action film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, alongside Brendan Fraser and Jet Li.

A notable role in 2011 saw her portray Aung San Suu Kyi in Luc Besson's biographical film The Lady. Due to her involvement in this film, Yeoh was blacklisted by the Burmese government and was refused entry to Myanmar on June 22, 2011, being deported on the same day.

Beyond acting, Yeoh also took on brand ambassador roles, such as being chosen by Guerlain in October 2011 to be its skincare ambassador, aiming to strengthen the French cosmetics company's ties with Asia.

Yeoh did not make her television debut until 2015, when she joined the fifth season of the Cinemax/Sky series Strike Back. In this role, she played Mei Foster, the wife of the British Ambassador to Thailand, who was secretly a North Korean spy named Li-Na.

3.4. Critical acclaim and award success (2017-present)

In 2016, Michelle Yeoh was cast as Starfleet Captain Philippa Georgiou of the starship USS Shenzhou in the series Star Trek: Discovery. She also recurred as Georgiou's "mirror" doppelganger later in the series, a role that garnered critical acclaim and made her a fan favorite. Following the success of Star Trek: Discovery, a spin-off series centered on Yeoh's character working as a member of Section 31, a secret galactic spy organization, was initially planned. However, in April 2023, Paramount+ announced that it had ordered a Star Trek: Section 31 feature film starring Yeoh instead of a series.

In 2018, Yeoh played the matriarch Eleanor Young in Jon M. Chu's critically and commercially successful film adaptation of Kevin Kwan's novel, Crazy Rich Asians, starring alongside Constance Wu and Henry Golding. Her performance was described as "convincingly subdued" by Carlos Aguilar of TheWrap. The following year, in 2019, she appeared as "Santa," the owner of a Christmas-themed store, in the romantic comedy Last Christmas, which was a box office success, grossing over 121.00 M USD worldwide. Yeoh also featured as Ying Nan in Marvel Studios' Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), directed by Destin Daniel Cretton. It was announced at The Game Awards 2020 that Yeoh would voice Meiyin Li, a 3rd-century Chinese rebel leader known as the Beast Queen, in Ark: The Animated Series, based on the video game Ark: Survival Evolved.

Her career reached new heights in 2022 with her starring role as Evelyn Quan Wang in the science fiction surreal comedy film Everything Everywhere All at Once, directed by the filmmaking duo Daniels. The film received widespread critical acclaim, with David Ehrlich of IndieWire hailing it as the "greatest performance that Michelle Yeoh has ever given." For this role, Yeoh achieved historic award success:

• She won the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first Asian actress to win in this category and the first Malaysian to win an Academy Award. She is also the second "woman of color" to win the award, following Halle Berry.
• She secured her first Golden Globe Award for Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, making her the first Malaysian actor to win this category.
• She received her first Independent Spirit Award and Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role, becoming the first Asian woman to win any individual lead film category at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
• She also earned her second BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role nomination and her first Critics' Choice Movie Award for Best Actress nomination.

Following this success, Yeoh appeared in the mystery film A Haunting in Venice (2023) alongside Kenneth Branagh and the Disney+ series American Born Chinese. In the same year, she was appointed as an International Olympic Committee member and delivered a commencement speech at Harvard Law School's 2023 class day. In January 2024, she led the cast of the eight-part action comedy series The Brothers Sun for Netflix, which received generally positive reviews.

4. Filmography

5. Television appearances

6. Awards and honors

Michelle Yeoh has received numerous awards and honors throughout her distinguished career, recognizing her contributions to cinema and society.

In 1999, she served as a member of the jury at the 49th Berlin International Film Festival. Her home state of Perak, Malaysia, honored her with the Darjah Datuk Paduka Mahkota Perak (DPMP) in 2001, which carries the title Dato' in recognition of the fame she brought to the state. In 2002, she was recognized as The Outstanding Young People of the World (TOYP) for Cultural Achievement by Junior Chamber International (JCI).

France has bestowed upon her several prestigious honors: she was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour (Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur^French) by President Jacques Chirac in 2007, promoted to Officer (Officier de la Légion d'honneur^French) by President Nicolas Sarkozy in 2012, and further elevated to Commander (Commandeur de la Légion d'honneur^French), the highest honor available to non-French citizens, by François Hollande in 2017. Additionally, she was made an Officer of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres^French) in 2016, becoming the first Malaysian citizen to receive this honor.

Malaysia continued to recognize her achievements: in 2012, she was awarded the Darjah Seri Paduka Mahkota Perak (SPMP), which carries the title Dato' Seri, and in 2013, she received the Panglima Setia Mahkota (PSM), granting her the title Tan Sri from the Yang di-Pertuan Agong.

In 2013, Yeoh received the Excellence in Asian Cinema award at the 7th Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong. She also presided as the Chief Guest at the International Film Festival of India in November 2013.

Her global influence was highlighted when she was included in the BBC's 100 Women list in 2020 and on Time magazine's list of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022, where she was also named its Icon of the Year. In August 2022, the American Film Institute awarded her an honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree for her distinguished contributions to the art of the moving image, making her the first Asian artist to receive this honor. She also received the Kirk Douglas Award from the Santa Barbara International Film Festival in December 2022.

In January 2024, the World Economic Forum honored her with the Crystal Award for her role as a cultural leader and her contributions to society as an exceptional artist. On May 3, 2024, President Joe Biden awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the United States, citing her for continuing "to shatter stereotypes and enrich American culture."

7. Activism and charity work

Michelle Yeoh dedicates a significant portion of her time to various charitable and social endeavors, focusing on issues such as disaster relief, HIV/AIDS, poverty reduction, animal conservation, gender equality, and road safety.

Since 2008, she has been an ambassador and leading campaigner for the FIA's "Make Roads Safe" campaign, advocating for road safety to be recognized as a global public health and development priority. Her activities for the campaign include promoting safer road design at events worldwide, speaking at the United Nations General Assembly, the Asia Development Bank, and the World Bank. She has also participated in walks to promote traffic safety at Formula One races and launched the Call for a Decade of Action for Road Safety at an event in Vietnam organized by the Asia Injury Prevention Foundation. To further raise awareness, she filmed a documentary on global road safety titled Turning Point, a version of which was broadcast on BBC World News.

Yeoh also serves as a WildAid ambassador for endangered animals and has been a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the Sustainable Development Goals initiative since 2016. She is a patron of the Save China's Tigers project, which is committed to protecting the endangered South China tiger. In 2016, she joined UNDP's first-ever animal ambassadors, two panda cubs, to launch the "Pandas for the Global Goals" campaign. To raise awareness about wildlife conservation and climate change, she collaborated with National Geographic to produce the documentary Among the Great Apes with Michelle Yeoh, emphasizing responsible consumerism, sustainable fashion, and ethical business practices. In 2013, she served as an executive producer for the project Pad Yatra: A Green Odyssey, a film documenting a journey of 700 people, led by the 12th Gyalwang Drukpa, through the Himalayas to plant 50,000 trees and educate villagers on environmental responsibility.



Her activism extends to health and well-being issues, serving as a patron or ambassador for organizations such as AIDS Concern, the Hong Kong Cancer Fund, amfAR, Live To Love, and the Paris Brain Institute. She is also a commissioner for UNAIDS and serves on the board of directors of the Suu Foundation, a non-political charity dedicated to supporting health, education, human rights, and development in Myanmar. As a survivor of the April 2015 Nepal earthquake, she returned to the disaster-stricken country after evacuation to assist in rehabilitation efforts and donated 100.00 K EUR to the victims.

Throughout her career, Yeoh has consistently portrayed strong roles and actively worked against stereotypes. After her role in Tomorrow Never Dies, she experienced a nearly two-year period without work due to the stereotypical roles offered to her in America. She recounted to People that at the time, "people in the industry couldn't really tell the difference between whether I was Chinese, Japanese, Korean or if I even spoke English. They would talk very loudly and very slowly." She has frequently spoken out against racism in Hollywood, often addressing it in her awards acceptance speeches, including at the Golden Globe Awards. The day after her historic Oscar win, she published an opinion essay in The New York Times advocating for true gender equality.

8. Personal life

Michelle Yeoh's first marriage was to Hong Kong entrepreneur Dickson Poon, known for his ownership of businesses like Harvey Nichols and Charles Jourdan. They were married from 1988 to 1992. Yeoh has stated that her inability to have children was the reason for the end of her first marriage. Despite the divorce, their separation was amicable, and Yeoh remains the godmother to Poon's daughter, Dee Poon, and maintains a friendly relationship with Poon's first wife.

From 1998 to 2000, Yeoh dated and was engaged to Alan Heldman, an American cardiologist, before their separation.

In 2004, she began a relationship with Jean Todt, a French motor racing executive who was then the general manager and CEO of Scuderia Ferrari and later became the president of the FIA. They became engaged on July 26, 2004. After a long engagement of 19 years, Yeoh and Todt officially married on July 27, 2023, in Geneva, Switzerland, where she has resided with Todt since 2019.

Yeoh does not have any biological children. She is a practicing Buddhist, having been raised in a Buddhist household. In a 2022 interview with Vanity Fair, she revealed that William Shakespeare and Stephen King are her favorite authors, and her favorite fictional hero is Tarzan. In 2013, she expressed support for Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak and the political coalition Barisan Nasional ahead of the 2013 Malaysian general election.

9. Influence and legacy

Michelle Yeoh's influence on the film industry and popular culture is profound, particularly for her pioneering roles as an Asian woman in Hollywood. In 2008, the film review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes ranked her as the greatest action heroine of all time, a testament to her groundbreaking work in action cinema where she famously performed her own stunts.

Her impact extends beyond action roles. In 1997, People magazine included her in its "50 Most Beautiful People in the World" list, and in 2009, the same magazine featured her as one of the "35 All-Time Screen Beauties." These recognitions highlight her enduring appeal and status as a global icon.

Yeoh has consistently challenged stereotypes for Asian women in Hollywood, advocating for more diverse and complex roles. Her historic Academy Award for Best Actress win in 2023 for Everything Everywhere All at Once was a landmark achievement, making her the first Asian actress to win in that category and solidifying her legacy as a trailblazer who opened doors for greater representation. This achievement, along with her other major awards, serves as a beacon of hope and possibility for aspiring actors from underrepresented backgrounds.

Her work has enriched American culture and global cinema, contributing significantly to cultural diversity and expanding the perception of Asian talent on the international stage. Her lasting legacy is defined not only by her exceptional acting and physical prowess but also by her unwavering commitment to social progress and human rights, making her a powerful voice for change in the entertainment industry and beyond.

10. Related items

• List of Academy Award winners and nominees of Asian descent
• List of awards and nominations received by Michelle Yeoh
• Chinese action cinema
• Women in film