It doesn’t get cooler than Michelle Yeoh. The Malaysian actress has been working since the ’80s and became a star thanks to butt-kicking roles in Chinese action movies. While these movies were often dominated by men, Yeoh held her own; bringing smarts, charisma, and even doing her own stunts. In the ’90s, she started taking on Hollywood roles, appearing in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies and further broadening her reach in popular movies like Memoirs of a Geisha and Crazy Rich Asians. But today, at age 60, she’s getting more recognition than ever before thanks to her historic Best Actress Oscar nomination for Everything Everywhere All at Once. Read on to learn why Yeoh is such an icon.
Why is Michelle Yeoh’s Oscar nomination important?
In recent years, there’s been increasing talk about the lack of diversity at the Oscars. The dearth of representation for Asian actors has been particularly glaring. Shockingly, in the 95 years of the awards ceremony, Yeoh is only the second Asian woman to be nominated for Best Actress. The first Asian woman to be nominated for this award was Merle Oberon, in 1936; but while Oberon was mixed race and born in Bombay, she passed as white. At that point in Hollywood…
