Michelle Yeoh's Journey To Becoming A Hollywood Superstar

There are few actors quite as impressive as Michelle Yeoh. The star fearlessly does her own stunt work and continues to shock us all with every critically-acclaimed role she plays. Her hard work and determination to earn recognition internationally paid off, as she is widely considered one of the most extraordinary female action film stars of all time. She's gone on to make history at the 2023 Oscars, being the first Asian to win the award for best actress, for her role in "Everything Everywhere All at Once."

The road to success wasn't an easy one for the Oscar winner. Being born into a wealthy Malaysian family offered her opportunities, but a breakthrough into the international film industry was an uphill battle. At 60 years old, Yeoh has fought against stereotypes about her race, age, and gender for decades. She has continued to break the mold that Hollywood placed her in throughout her career, and she's not afraid to speak out about it. It's just the beginning for the "Crazy Rich Asians" star, who says the sky is the limit. "A lot of actresses find, as the numbers get bigger, the roles start to dwindle," she told People. "Over the last few years, I'm very proud that we have been breaking away from stereotypes — it's not just lip service. It is happening. And it's happening to me." There's no doubt that she made it happen, and we're taking a look into Michelle Yeoh's journey to becoming a Hollywood superstar.

Michelle Yeoh had a plentiful childhood, being born into a wealthy Chinese-Malay family in the Malaysian city of Ipoh. Her father reportedly worked as a lawyer and then went into politics. He passed away in 2014. 

Yeoh took up ballet at four years old and had piano lessons as a child, and her talent in dance led her to study ballet at the United Kingdom's Royal Academy of Dance in London. The "Crouching Tiger" star's dance dreams were derailed due to a spinal injury, so she earned a bachelor's degree in creative arts and minored in drama, also studying choreography.

The "Everything Everywhere All at Once" star has remained close to her mother, Janet, throughout her career. She took to Instagram to thank her mom in 2020, writing, "To the most beautiful mother and all mothers ... Happy Mother's Day." Though Yeoh plays the role of a powerful, affluent, and domineering Singaporean mother in "Crazy Rich Asians," she admitted her own mother is nothing like the character of Eleanor Young in the film. When asked by The New York Times if her character had any similarities with Janet, she replied, "Oh no. My mom is not Eleanor at all. She's not a hippie, but she's very carefree, very outgoing. Eleanor would be truly my homage to the mothers that I know in Asia. A lot of my friends or my friends' mothers."

Michelle Yeoh doesn't shy away from the competition. From her talents growing up as a ballerina, to her starring roles at the box office, she has always given it her all. She was even the winner of Miss Malaysia in 1983, a title she says her mother takes pride in. Yeoh spoke to Town & Country about the crowning moment, admitting no one was more shocked than herself after winning. "I'm a little competitive by nature," she revealed, adding, "I think the judges were blind." Her mother, who entered her daughter in the pageant, wanted her to take as many opportunities as she could before turning 21, the actor said on "The Graham Norton Show."

The Oscar winner went on to compete in Miss World the same year, placing 18th in the pageant. She continued to take home titles, reportedly winning Miss International Tourism Quest in Australia and then Miss Moomba International in 1984. Competing is something that's been instilled in Yeoh since childhood. She told GQ that this was particularly true with athletics, as her after-school activities included ballet, squash, diving, and table tennis all at the same time.

How does one go from a ballerina to one of the most recognized female action film stars? It's a question that boggles viewers when they see Michelle Yeoh dominate kung fu and martial arts moves in the many starring roles she has had throughout her career. The actor never had previous formal training, yet she makes the stunts look easy in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "Tomorrow Never Dies," "Yes, Madam!" "Supercop," and several other action movies. 

Hard work and dedication led Yeoh to champion her leading roles, which included hours of training in martial arts to prepare her body. At 22 years old, Yeoh took on the challenge under the wing of Hong Kong martial arts director Sammo Hung. The seasoned director took a chance on the star in 1984 when he cast her for a role in "The Owl vs. Bumbo." It was a film that put Yeoh on the map, despite her not performing fight scenes.

In 1993, Yeoh opened up about what it meant to finally land roles as an action heroine after appearing in "The Owl vs. Bumbo." Speaking with the press at the premiere of "Tai Chi Master," Yeoh revealed, "The action world was very male-dominated in those days, and directors weren't sure how the audience would react to a girl who could fight as hard as Jackie Chan. They wondered if this slip of a girl could do all that stuff. Well, I showed them that I could" (via South China Morning Post). She noted that dance was useful to her in mastering the moves and being coordinated.

As if Michelle Yeoh couldn't get any more impressive, the actor found another way to make our jaws drop — by revealing she does her own stunt work. She began to rise the ranks as a Hong Kong action star following her breakout role in "Yes, Madam" in 1985, and she starred in several other Hong Kong action movies before taking the lead in "Supercop 2" alongside Jackie Chan in 1993. When she came to Los Angeles to dub the movie in English in '96, she met with Roger Ebert reporter Beth Accomando and shared just how "real" her daunting action scenes actually were. "The audience must remember that in Hong Kong, we don't work with and did not work with blue screens," Yeoh said, continuing, "There are no digital effects. I had someone watch 'Supercop' with me, and they were going, 'Wow, the blue screen effects in Hong Kong are really good.' I said, 'No. That's a real train. I'm really doing that motorcycle jump from the road onto the moving train.'"

For Yeoh, it's important to be able to perform her own stunts, though that's not so common in the world of Hollywood — where stunt doubles are a dime a dozen. Having endured the Hong Kong industry where she had no option but to be her own stuntwoman, the Oscar winner takes pride in it. In a 2008 interview with The Guardian, she revealed, "The sense of achievement is so immense."

Michelle Yeoh made her Hollywood debut in the 1997 James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies" alongside Pierce Brosnan. It was the first time viewers saw a Malaysian Bond girl, and Yeoh hit it out of the park. "She and Pierce were two equally matched movie stars," film director Ang Lee told The Telegraph, comparing them to the famous Hollywood duo Judy Garland and Fred Astaire. As GQ put it, "...Yeoh's one-two punch of emotional gravity and physical virtuosity [were] on full display." Lee saw Yeoh's performance in the film and sought her out for his 2000 action-adventure film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" — which took the record as the first foreign-language film to net $100 million in sales in the United States.

Joining the list of Bond girls may seem like an ill-fated venture to some, given that dozens of the films have seen leading ladies sexualized only to be later killed off. But Yeoh escaped that fate, breathing a breath of fresh air — and representation — into the franchise. "Bond was ready for change," she told the Independent. "Bond had to evolve because the fan base was also evolving. Women were choosing the movies to go and watch, and we don't always want to watch ones where we're being sexualized."

Growing up as an Asian American trying to break the Hollywood mold meant Michelle Yeoh had an uphill battle ahead of her. As she's broken through the glass ceiling, the actor has been vocal about her struggles to be taken seriously throughout her career. When Yeoh was cast as the leading lady in the 1997 film "Tomorrow Never Dies," she was treated differently due to her race. "At that point, people in the industry couldn't really tell the difference between whether I was Chinese or Japanese or Korean or if I even spoke English," she told People, adding, "They would talk very loudly and very slow." 

She indicated that stereotypes made her feel boxed in based on the color of her skin. The harsh reality of Hollywood in the '80s and '90s led the star to take time away from acting. "I didn't work for almost two years, until 'Crouching Tiger,' simply because I could not agree with the stereotypical roles that were put forward to me," she admitted. 

Yeoh won an Oscar for her starring role in "Everything Everywhere All at Once," but in order to play Evelyn Wang, she made a serious condition. "The only thing I said to them was, 'The character cannot be called Michelle Wang,'" Yeoh said to Cate Blanchett in Variety's "Actors on Actors" series. "They're like, 'But why? It's so you.' I'm like, 'No, I'm not an Asian immigrant mother who's running a laundromat. She needs her own voice.'"

It's hard to imagine action heroine, international Oscar-winning star Michelle Yeoh not acting. After becoming Miss Malaysia, the beauty queen began to turn heads in the Hong Kong entertainment industry. "I was in Kuala Lumpur and had just come back from a squash game, all sweaty," Yeoh told GQ. "Phone rings, I pick it up, and my friend says, 'Come to Hong Kong. Faster. Tomorrow. Get on the flight!'" Yeoh's friend had met an important Chinese mogul named Dickson Poon who was looking for someone to star in TV commercials, and the rest was history. "So I took a meeting, and Mr. Poon said, 'Would you like to shoot the commercial tomorrow?'" Yeoh revealed. "That was my first meeting with Jackie [Chan] — the first person I worked with in Hong Kong."

The chance dinner encounter turned out to be life-changing for the "Crazy Rich Asians" star in more ways than one. Yeoh earned roles in smaller action films before she starred in the 1985 movie "Yes, Madam." She also married Poon in 1988, but the couple divorced a few years later in 1991 after the actor struggled to conceive. "As it turned out, I was unable [to have children]," Yeoh told Bustle. "And if I'm being honest with myself, I didn't want for us to be bitter 10 years down the road."

Michelle Yeoh has no children of her own — but she's always wanted to be a mother and is famous for her range in motherly roles. The "Crazy Rich Asians" star opened up to You Magazine about her struggles to conceive despite her dreams of one day having her own family. 

"Unfortunately, I couldn't. I tried IVF, everything," she admitted, elaborating on her fertility treatment, "I was desperate. I love kids and saw myself surrounded by them. But there's only so much you can put your body and mind through. It comes to a stage where you have to accept it, move on, and deal with the repercussions. And in a Chinese family, [having children] means a great deal." The outlet noted that ex-husband Dickson Poon's daughter Dee gets to call Yeoh her godmother, as do other children. Yeoh's fiance Jean Todt has a son, Nicolas, who manages racecar drivers.

The man who has been beside Michelle Yeoh for almost two decades is Jean Todt, a French motorsports executive and former CEO of Ferrari. The two got engaged in 2005, a year after they met through a Shanghai Ferrari event. Yeoh and Todt share a love for travel, and they own homes in France, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Hong Kong. In an interview with the Financial Times in 2019, Todt admitted he and his fiance spend "about 185 days on the road, about 70 in France, and 100 in Geneva."

Yeoh opened up about her relationship with her long-time partner in an interview with CBS News, saying, "What I love is, he is what you see is what you get. He's very straightforward. He's very honest. He's one of the most loyal person I have ever met." As for whether or not there will be wedding bells ringing in the future, the Oscar-winning actor played coy when asked about the possibility. "We've been threatening to get married for such a long time. Sometimes we say, 'Wait, didn't we already do it?'" she told The Guardian.

Michelle Yeoh pays it forward in big ways. The "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" star was appointed a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in 2016, which aims to put an end to world poverty by 2030. The actor has experienced firsthand the devastating effects natural disasters can have, as she was stranded in Nepal in 2015 due to a horrible earthquake. She and her fiance Jean Todt were forced to evacuate, but she has since returned to the country to help with relief efforts. "My terrifying experience as the earth rattled made me realize the crucial importance of preparing for disaster long before it happens," she said in a statement for the organization.

Yeoh represented Malaysia in 2010 and 2014 at the UN General Assembly and also helped support the passing of the Decade of Action. The proposal was approved at the UN General Assembly in 2010, and "calls for accelerating sustainable solutions to all the world's biggest challenges — ranging from poverty and gender to climate change, inequality and closing the finance gap." Yeoh went on to receive the "Commander of the Legion of Honour" award — the highest award given to civilians — by former French president François Hollande. She was also awarded the title of "Tan Sri" by the Malaysian government in 2014, honoring her decades of success and the honor she's brought to her home country.

Michelle Yeoh is a wonderful example of a feminist that many women look up to around the world. The "Everything Everywhere All at Once" star admitted to The Guardian that as a woman, and a former Miss Malaysia, she had a lot to prove in the film industry to naysayers and doubters that saw her gender as an obstacle. "They literally folded their arms, stood back and watched me. 'This little thing wants to do all this?' But I followed them move for move. I was in that gym 8:30am until sundown every day," she said of her work in action movies during the '80s. 

She admitted that her co-star Jackie Chan, with whom she starred in the 1992 film "Supercop 2," begged her not to perform her own stunts. "I told him, 'You're a fine one to ask me to stop! You're always doing them.' He said, 'That's because when you do one, I have to go one better.' The pressure was on him, poor dude." When asked whether Chan feels that a woman's place is in the kitchen, Yeoh replied, "He used to, until I kicked his butt." Apparently, Chan's lesson in feminism didn't bother him too much. The "Crazy Rich Asians" star revealed that the pair are still close to this day. "Oh yeah, we're very good friends. Jackie is what you see is what you get," she told GQ.

There's no question that Michelle Yeoh's many successes and the hurdles she overcame to achieve them have made her an inspiration for Asian Americans everywhere. She reflected on the importance of playing the character Evelyn Wang in the critically acclaimed film "Everywhere Everything All at Once" in an interview with CBS News. "What I found so beautiful was, it was giving a voice to a very ordinary woman, aging immigrant woman, who's never really had a voice before," she revealed, adding, "It is very important because what we are giving to all the Asian faces is that we're not invisible".

Yeoh is changing the face of Hollywood. In an industry where Asian and Pacific Islander actors were cast in just six percent of speaking roles from 2007 to 2019, change is long overdue. "Crazy Rich Asians" made its mark on mainstream movies as being the first widespread U.S. film with an all-Asian cast, but this victory wasn't without a fight from the author of the novel. Kevin Kwan, who wrote the book from which the was film adapted, refused to allow his story to become whitewashed. Kwan told The Chronicle, "I think Hollywood underestimated what the public audience wants. And the public audience just wants a great story. They just want to learn new things. They want to be entertained. They want to feel good about themselves. I'm lucky that we had that, but we also benefited from this amazing, amazing support from the Asian community."

Michelle Yeoh made history in a huge way at the 2023 Oscars when she took home the award for best actress for her lead role in "Everything Everywhere All at Once." In a full-circle moment, Halle Berry, who was the first Black woman to receive the award in 2002, presented Yeoh with the prestigious Oscar. In her acceptance speech, Yeoh took a moment to reflect on the doors she opened for other aspiring actors of color. "For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities," she said. "This is proof [to] dream big, and dreams do come true. And ladies, don't let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up," she added.

The star thanked her mother and dedicated the award to her and all mothers. "She's 84, and I'm taking this home to her," Yeoh explained. Cameras caught Yeoh's mother's reaction to the win on Oscars night, where she was seen crying tears of happiness upon learning her daughter's big news. The actor's family had a special viewing party in Kuala Lumpur during the award show with loved ones.

Fans lit up on Twitter following Yeoh making history at the Academy Awards. "...finally got one of these in our bag for our ppl eh, she now a forever legend," one user wrote. "I had no doubt she was gonna win. Asians coming up in mainstream," tweeted another in response.