Oscars 2023: Who is award-winning dancer and martial arts expert Michelle Yeoh in a role he thought of as Jackie Chan | people | entertainment

“And the Oscar goes to…”, there was a slight pause and after a few seconds of suspense, his name was heard: “… Michelle Yeoh.”

A moment that will forever remain in the history of the Oscars after it became First woman of Asian descent to win Best Actress Statue.

“For all the boys and girls who look like me (…) this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dreams, and you have to dream big, do come true,” said Yeoh emotionally upon receiving the award.

“Ladies, don’t let anyone tell you you’re past your fame,” the 60-year-old actress added to applause from those in Los Angeles who attended the ceremony.

friend and teacher

When Michelle Yeoh came to Hong Kong from her native Malaysia to star in a commercial with Jackie Chan, she never thought that this meeting would lead to a successful career spanning more than four decades.

And it was not easy to imagine at the time that he would one day win an Oscar with a role initially intended for this actor who was an expert in martial arts.

Because Yeoh starred in the acclaimed multiverse adventure “everything everywhere at the same time” (Everything everywhere at once) It was originally shown to Chan.

“This is how they wrote it, with Jackie in mind and I as his wife, so the roles were completely reversed,” the actress once recounted.

Now it’s hard to think of a multiverse without Evelyn, the character with whom Yoh won an Academy Award.

From “Miss Malaysia” to “Bond Girl”

Yoh did not grow up thinking of being an actress but of having her own ballet school and teaching what she loves most, which is dance.

But in Yoh’s life, plans don’t always obey his wishes. For example, in her youth, she participated and won the Miss Malaysia contest and represented her country in the Miss World contest at the insistence of her mother, who registered her for the contest without notifying her.

Although as a result of working with Chan she decided to immerse herself in a world that, as she recounted in a BBC interview, Men dominated him: martial arts action films.

“That world fascinated me because it seemed like great choreography to me. It really sounded like a dance and I experimented with it because I thought I could do it.”

Yeoh’s fame increased throughout the 1980s until she established herself as one of the leading actresses in Hong Kong action films, and was recognized for her ability. She does the most dangerous scenes herself No need to double.

In 1997 he got his first big break in Hollywood. She was like the Bond Girl in Tomorrow Never Dies (Tomorrow never dies), where she plays a Chinese journalist who meets Agent 007 (Pierce Brosnan).

The role that marked her before and after in her life, her recognition by the magazine the people As one of the 50 most beautiful people in the world, although the effect was not only professional.

From minority to role model

In an interview with the BBC, Yeoh explained that his arrival in Hollywood was a bit of a shock.

“At the time it was a little strange for my system, when you leave Asia to get to the US and Suddenly you start to become known as part of a minority. This word was new to me.

In 2000, he had his first global box office success, The Tiger and the Dragon (Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon), for which he received a nomination for the British Academy Film Awards, Bafta.

always One way or another associated with characters of Asian originYeoh participated in many less successful productions for nearly two decades until 2018. His career received a new boost with the movie “Locamente Millionaires” (Crazy rich Asians).

Then he managed to enter the Marvel universe with his participation in “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” (Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings) and make history like Evelyn’s “Everything is Everywhere at the Same Time”.

magazine last year time included Among the 100 most influential people in the worldacknowledging that this not only highlights Yeoh’s acting career, but also her role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme.

Yes, he said, “I can be a voice and speak for all the people who don’t have that voice to be heard.”

“Women leaders are important because young girls who are now growing up can see and say “Look, this is for me, I can do that.”This is the most important message. (And the)