Michelle Yeoh: First Asian Woman to Win Best Actress at the 95th Oscars
“They are the real superheroes, and without them, none of us will be here tonight,” Michelle Yeoh said in dedication to her mother as she became the first Asian woman to win Best Actress at the Oscars. The 95th Oscars took place on March 12 while viewers sat watching the television screen as the actors began squirming in their seats. At 60 years old, Yeoh accepted her award from Halle Berry, who was the first ever woman of color to win Best Actress in 2002. "This is history in the making," Yeoh added to her speech. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” star played a character who is a Chinese immigrant who gets confronted by the IRS and travels throughout the multiverse. Handing her the award, Jessica Chastain and everyone else in the audience did not have a dry eye. With 11 nominations for the movie, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won six awards that night. Since the Oscars started in 1929, Yeoh truly did make history that night.
Moving to England at the age of 15, Michelle Yeoh was born in Ipoh, Malaysia. Once in England, the young star began her stardom by enrolling in the Royal Academy of Dance where she believed that ballet would be her career. She shortly started showing up on television in commercials when she unexpectedly won Miss Malaysia in 1983. Yeoh found her love for Korean martial arts films which strengthened her passion for performing even more. She took a pause from her acting career in 1987 when she married Dickson Poon, but shortly in 1992, her performances resumed when she divorced Poon. She finally became an international star when she appeared in “Tomorrow Never Dies,” the James Bond film. Films like 2017’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2” and “Crazy Rich Asians” in 2018 made her name more well known across the country when it won Critics Choice Movie Award for Best Comedy during the 2019 Critics’ Choice Awards and the Teen Choice Award for Best Comedy that same year. This not only made her more popular for casting directors, but also for younger audiences. For “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” the movie won Best Sci-Fi Film in the Teens Choice Awards in 2017. The marvel film made Yeho even more noticeable in the public eye, which led to her now winning Best Actress at the Oscars. People loved her so much in the marvel film, that she appeared in another one in 2021 called “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.” Being 60, Yeoh spoke up and loudly said, “Ladies, never let anybody tell you that you are past your prime,” as she proudly held her glistening golden award in the air with pride.
Michelle Yeoh is known for sticking up for ethnic and gender diversity. She was initially supposed to play the wife of a man in the Oscar-winning movie, but rewrote the script for her to be the main character. Even today, she is still rewriting tons of scripts to fit female characters to give them more of a platform to speak out.“This world belongs to all of us, and all sexes should be able to live in respect and harmony,” she once stated, “Let's empower men and help them take a stand to stop acts of violence against women.” Though she wants more of a platform and more opportunities for female actresses, she didn't disgrace men, but prompted them to speak up for what she believed. “I gravitate towards roles where women find strength in very difficult, uncompromising situations but maintain clarity in mind, discipline at heart, and a certain strength in spirit.” Her earlier Korean films revolved around her having roles involving martial arts to show off her strength without even knowing martial arts and karate. That didn't matter though because no matter what role she played, she portrayed every film of hers while exerting her strength perfectly.
