Oscars: Michelle Yeoh is first Asian to win best actress for Everything Everywhere All At Once
LOS ANGELES - Michelle Yeoh on Sunday made history by becoming the first Asian woman to win the best actress Oscar, for her exuberant portrayal of an immigrant business owner in the sci-fi trip Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Yeoh, 60, was widely regarded as the front-runner for the award after claiming a Screen Actors Guild honour and a Golden Globe award for the role. This was her first Oscar nomination.
“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dream big and dreams do come true,” Yeoh said while accepting her award. “And ladies, don’t let anybody ever tell you you are past your prime.”
In Everything Everywhere, Yeoh’s character, Evelyn Wang, is struggling to finish her taxes when she is swept into alternate universes. The science-fiction film was a critical and commercial success and also won the best
picture Oscar.
Yeoh got her start in Hong Kong action movies in the 1990s and broke through in Hollywood when she was cast as the first ethnic Chinese Bond girl in 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies opposite Pierce Brosnan.
Since then, she has enjoyed success in a range of genres, solidifying her reputation as both a big-budget action star and formidable acting talent.
Her best-known films include Lee Ang’s 2000 martial arts movie Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, the 2005 period drama Memoirs Of A Geisha and the 2018 romantic comedy Crazy Rich Asians.
The Hollywood veteran won over Academy voters with her complex take on Evelyn Wang, a Chinese American laundromat owner who is mired in a tax audit, stuck in a crumbling marriage and struggling to connect with her daughter Joy. - AFP, REUTERS
"For all the little boys and girls who look like me, watching tonight: this is a beacon of hope and possibility."
— SA7AH (@TinyTunney) March 13, 2023
Michelle Yeoh did that!!! A true icon and legend!!! #Oscars pic.twitter.com/E5VYVVcRB1
Get The New Paper on your phone with the free TNP app. Download from the Apple App Store or Google Play Store now