This year, she was quite literally Everything Everywhere All at Once, like the title of her critically acclaimed film that was released in March. In 2022, she also lent her talent to multiple works such The School Of Good And Evil, Minions: The Rise Of Gru, Paws Of Fury: The Legend Of Hank, and the upcoming highly anticipated sequel movie Avatar: The Way Of Water.
The Ipoh-born actress rose to fame in the 90s by starring in Hong Kong action films and continues to be awe-inspiring almost three decades later with her never fading beauty and talent besides being known as an inspiring icon for women’s empowerment and a United Nations Development Programme Goodwill Ambassador.
In 1983, she won the Miss Malaysia World contest and has gone on to become arguably Malaysia’s best-known actor. The 60-year-old beauty is known for doing her own stunts on set and has starred in the James Bond film ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’, Ang Lee's martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and Crazy Rich Asians, which she received a Screen Actors Guild Award nomination for.
In August, she became the first Asian artist to receive an honorary doctorate of Fine Arts from the American Film Institute for her contributions of distinction to the art of the moving image.
Although she is a household name in our own country and in Asia, Yeoh has not actually been given a spot on the Hollywood A-List until this year. In ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’, she played the unlikely Asian female hero, Evelyn Wang and shared her struggles to be the leading star in films despite her considerably glittering career to TIME, saying, “It shouldn’t be about my race, but it has been a battle,”.
Also speaking about playing Evelyn, she said, “When you get an opportunity like this, you have to pour your heart and soul into it, because you don’t know when the next chance is.” You can read the full write-up and interview with TIME here.
You can also check out snippets from her interview and photoshoot in this video:
She is expected to be up for the Best Actress award for the movie at the Oscars ––– and it is important to note that no Asian female has ever won the category of Best Actress at the Oscars before. She confessed to TIME: I’ve thought about it,” she admits. “And not just me—I feel like my full Asian community has thought about it. They come up to me and they say, ‘You’re doing it for us.’”
We sure hope she wins!
Image credit: Michelle Watt for TIME