Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh
Actress
Michelle Yeoh (born 6 August 1962) is a Malaysian Chinese actress who achieved fame in the early 1990s, after starring in a series of popular Hong Kong action films in which she performed her own stunts. Born in Ipoh, Malaysia, she is known internationally for starring in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, and the Chinese-language martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, for which she was nominated for the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in 2000. In 2008, the film critic website Rotten Tomatoes ranked her the greatest action heroine of all time. In 1997, she was chosen by People as one of the "50 Most Beautiful People in the World," and in 2009 the same magazine listed her as one of the "35 All-Time Screen Beauties"—the only Asian actress to make the list.Yeoh was born in Ipoh, Malaysia, to an ethnic Chinese family of mixed Hokkien and Cantonese descent. Her parents are Janet Yeoh and Yeoh Kian Teik, a lawyer and MCA politician. She was keen on dance from an early age, beginning ballet at the age of four. At the age of 15, she moved with her parents to the United Kingdom, where she was enrolled in a boarding school. Yeoh later studied at the Royal Academy of Dance in London, majoring in ballet. However, a spinal injury prevented her from becoming a professional ballet dancer, and she transferred her attention to choreography and other arts. She later received a BA degree in Creative Arts with a minor in Drama. In 1983, at the age of 20, Yeoh won the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant. She represented Malaysia at the Queen of the Pacific 1983 beauty pageant which was held in Australia and won the crown. She was also Malaysia's representative at the Miss World 1983 pageant in London. From there, she appeared in a television commercial with Jackie Chan which caught the attention of a fledgling Hong Kong film production company, D&B Films.Yeoh started her film career acting in action and martial arts films such as Yes, Madam in 1985, after which she did most of her own stunts.She was credited as Michelle Khan in these earlier films. This alias was chosen by D&B studio who thought it might be more marketable to international and western audiences. Yeoh later preferred using her real name. The D&B Group in Hong Kong was run by the businessman Dickson Poon. Yeoh married Poon in 1987 and retired from acting.In 1992, Yeoh and Dickson Poon divorced and Yeoh returned to acting. Yeoh's performance in Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992) marked her comeback to film. She acted in The Heroic Trio in 1993, and the Yuen Woo-ping films Tai Chi Master and Wing Chun in 1994.She played Wai Lin in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). Brosnan was impressed, describing her as a "wonderful actress" who was "serious and committed about her work". He referred to her as a "female James Bond" in reference to her combat abilities. She wanted to perform her own stunts but was prevented because director Roger Spottiswoode considered it too dangerous. Nevertheless, she performed all of her own fighting scenes. Yeoh was then recruited by Ang Lee to star as Yu Shu Lien in the Chinese language martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The film was shot in various provinces around China. Yeoh had grown up speaking English and Malay, before learning Cantonese. She spoke little Mandarin, and learned the Mandarin lines for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon phonetically. The film was an international success, and earn Yeoh a BAFTA 2000 nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role. In 2005, Yeoh starred as the graceful Mameha in the film adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha, and she continued her English-language work in 2007 with Sunshine. In 2008, Michelle Yeoh also starred in fantasy action film The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor with Brendan Fraser and Jet Li.
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