Line #12 Creator/MichelleYeoh


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/michelle_yeoh_12_1.jpg]]
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3	->''"As an actor, you hope to find roles that are challenging to you as an artist. Then if you are truly blessed, you will find that it also carries a message that you can impart to your audience."''
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5	Born in Malaysia, Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng (杨紫琼, ''Yang Zi Qiong'' in Hanyu Pinyin), or with her full federal honour title, ''Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato' Seri'' Michelle Yeoh PSM (born August 6, 1962), is a UsefulNotes/{{Malaysia}}n actress and martial artist of UsefulNotes/{{Chin\|a}}ese descent, and one of the most world-famous modern actresses to come out of [[UsefulNotes/TheFarEast East Asia]].
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7	She has worked in the Hong Kong film industry for over four decades, starring alongside such actors as Creator/JackieChan, Creator/JetLi, and Creator/ChowYunFat. To Western audiences, she is best known for her roles in ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'', ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'', ''Film/MemoirsOfAGeisha'', ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'' and ''Film/EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce''. She also starred in Jackie Chan's ''Police Story 3'' (aka ''Film/SuperCop'') as well as ''Film/HeroicTrio'', ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'' and ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery''.
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9	Unlike other Hong Kong action stars, Yeoh is not a formally trained martial artist, coming instead from a ballet background. She took her experience to learn on-set the specific styles that every film demanded, and over time she developed into a soundly credible martial arts star thanks to her natural elegance and coordination. Her ability to do stunts has also been highly praised by Jackie Chan of all people, whom Yeoh considers a big brother due to their career together.
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11	Among Yeoh's accolades, she was ranked as one of ''Magazine/{{Time}}''[='=]s 100 most influential people of the world in 2022, as well as their Icon of the Year, and she is the first Malaysian woman and the first self-identified Asian woman to be nominated for and win the [[MediaNotes/AcademyAwardForBestActressInALeadingRole Academy Award for Best Actress]][[note]]''[[https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/michelle-yeoh-historic-2023-oscar-nomination-everything-everywhere-all-at-once-1235308400/ The Hollywood Reporter]]'' noted that their use of language referring to Yeoh as the first "self-identified Asian woman" was because 1936 nominee Merle Oberon was biracial, of white and South Asian descent, but only identified publicly as white. Other nominees and winners like Creator/NataliePortman, Music/{{Cher}} and Creator/SalmaHayek have documented Western Asian ancestry but also do not publicly identify as Asian[[/note]], winning it in 2023 for her role as Evelyn Quan Wang in ''Everything Everywhere All at Once''.
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13	!!Selected filmography:
14	* ''Film/MyLuckyStars'' (1985) - in the third film, ''Twinkle, Twinkle, Lucky Stars'' as an unnamed [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfxVYdLGE2c Judo instructor]]. Her fight scene with Richard Ng and Sammo Hung is ''[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments hilarious]]''
15	* ''Film/YesMadam'' (1985) as Inspector Ng
16	* ''Film/RoyalWarriors'' (1986) as Michelle Yip
17	* ''Film/{{Supercop}}'' (1992) as Inspector Jessica Yang
18	** ''Film/SuperCop2'' (1993)
19	* ''Film/ButterflyAndSword'' (1993) as Lady Ko
20	* ''Film/HeroicTrio'' (1993) as Ching/Invisible Girl
21	** ''Heroic Trio 2: Executioners'' (1993) as Ching
22	* ''Film/TaiChiMaster'' (1993) as Siu Lin
23	* ''Film/WonderSeven'' (1994) as Ying
24	* ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' (1997) as Wai Lin
25	* ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon'' (2000) as Yu Shu Lien
26	** ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragonSwordOfDestiny'' (2016)
27	* ''Film/TheTouch'' (2002) as Pak Yin Fay
28	* ''Literature/MemoirsOfAGeisha'' (2005) as Mameha
29	* ''Film/{{Fearless\|2006}}'' (2006) as Miss Yang
30	* ''Film/{{Sunshine}}'' (2007) as Corazon
31	* ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'' (2008) as Zi Yuan
32	* ''Film/BabylonAD'' (2008) as Sister Rebeka
33	* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'' (2011) as Soothsayer (voice)
34	* ''Series/StrikeBack'' (2015) as Mei Foster / Li-Na
35	* ''Series/MarcoPolo'' (2016) as Lotus
36	* ''[[Film/TheMechanic2011 Mechanic: Resurrection]]'' (2016) as Mei
37	* ''Film/{{Morgan}}'' (2016) as Dr. Lui Cheng
38	* ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxyVol2'' (2017) as Aleta Ogord
39	* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' (2017-20) as Philippa Georgiou
40	** ''Star Trek: Section 31'' (TBA)
41	* ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'' (2018) as Eleanor Young
42	* ''Film/MasterZIpManLegacy'' (2018) as Tso Ngan Kwan
43	* ''Film/LastChristmas'' (2019) as Santa / Huang Qing Shin
44	* ''Film/BossLevel'' (2021) as Dai Feng
45	* ''Film/GunpowderMilkshake'' (2021) as Florence
46	* ''Film/ShangChiAndTheLegendOfTheTenRings'' (2021) as Ying Nan
47	* ''Film/EverythingEverywhereAllAtOnce'' (2022) as Evelyn Wang - Academy Award winner for Best Actress
48	* ''WesternAnimation/MinionsTheRiseOfGru'' (2022) as Master Chow (voice)
49	* ''WesternAnimation/PawsOfFuryTheLegendOfHank'' (2022) as Yuki (voice)
50	* ''Film/{{The School for Good and Evil\|2022}}'' (2022) as Professor Emma Anemone
51	* ''Series/TheWitcherBloodOrigin'' (2022) as Scían of the Ghost Tribe
52	* ''Series/{{American Born Chinese\|2023}}'' (2023) as Guanyin
53	* ''Film/TransformersRiseOfTheBeasts'' (2023) as Airazor (voice)
54	* ''Film/AHauntingInVenice'' (2023) as Joyce Reynolds
55	* ''Series/TheBrothersSun'' (2024) as Eileen 'Mama' Sun
56	* ''Film/WickedPartOne'' (2024) as Madame Morrible
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58	!!She provides examples of:
59	* ActionGirl: She often plays female martial artists and is quite skilled in real life. She's a contemporary of [[Creator/JackieChan Jackie Freakin' Chan]], and you'd be hard pressed to find another actress with her caliber of badassery.
60	** She's this on a meta level as well; according to her, she helped change Chan's mind on women.
61	--->'''Interviewer''': Is it true [Chan] thinks women belong in the kitchen rather than in action movies?
62	--->'''Yeoh''': He used to, until I kicked his butt.
63	* BadassLongcoat: Sports one in ''Silver Hawk'' ([[WesternAnimation/SilverHawks no relation]]) as the title motorcycling vigilante.
64	* BannedInChina: She's been banned from Burma/ UsefulNotes/{{Myanmar}} for portraying Aung San Suu Kyi (a Burmese politician[[note]]Daw ( literally "aunt") Suu Kyi is the daughter of Burmese independence icon Aung San, who was assassinated when she was two years and a month old. Daw Suu Kyi had a complicated relationship with the military government which ruled Burma since its independence (apart from the power-sharing it did with a civilian government between 2010 and 2021). Before becoming a government minister in 2016 (as State Counsellor of Myanmar; she was the first and only person who held the post), Daw Suu Kyi was a strident opposition member who was placed under house arrest for years by the military government. It was in this context that Yeoh was banned by the Burmese authorities. After becoming State Counsellor, Daw Suu Kyi had defended the government's handing of the Rohingya issue.[[/note]]) in a biographical movie (''The Lady'').
65	* BeamMeUpScotty: The public seems to think that she played the snake charmer in that one memorable scene from ''Film/{{The Karate Kid\|2010}}'' remake, but this is not the case. The snake charmer is played by little-known Chinese actress Xiaofei Zhou, who costarred with Yeoh in ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragonSwordOfDestiny''.
66	* BreakoutCharacter:
67	** ''Police Story 3'' / ''Film/SuperCop'' starred her character, who was the {{Sidekick}} of Jackie's character in the previous movie. She was so popular with audiences, her character had a spinoff movie, ''Film/SuperCop2''.
68	** Also, a sequel to ''Film/TomorrowNeverDies'' was planned with her character Colonel Wai Lin in mind but it never came to fruition for some reason. Similar efforts to work her into a role in ''Film/DieAnotherDay'' also fell through after early drafts.
69	* TheCaptain: In ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', she played Captain Philippa Georgiou of the U.S.S. ''Shenzhou''.
70	* DanceBattler: She has no formal martial arts training but trained as a dancer, allowing her to use her natural gracefulness, athleticism and agility in fights.
71	* DarkActionGirl: Often played this role when she was younger.
72	* DeadStarWalking: In ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', her character was killed off in the second episode after being promoted as a lead role in the show's pre-broadcast publicity. Then subverted when [[spoiler:she plays a major role in the final third of the first season as the character's MirrorUniverse duplicate, who is still alive at the end of the season and comes back as an agent of [[NoSuchAgency Section 31]].]]
73	* DistaffCounterpart: She is often seen as the female Creator/JackieChan since she does her own stunts, just like Jackie.
74	* TheEmperor: [[spoiler:She returned to ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' as the Terran Emperor of the MirrorUniverse.]]
75	* HilariousOuttakes: For ''Supercop,'' yes. Subverted at the end of ''Ah Kam'', which only elicits wincing as you watch the result of her stunt GoneHorriblyWrong.
76	* InstantExpert: She never had a formal martial arts training, but you would never say it from watching her films. When she started her career, she put herself to learn the business from everybody she could learn from and turned out to be just that good.
77	* MacheteMayhem: In several kung fu-heavy works (particularly in {{Wuxia}} films) her weapon tends to be any variation of dao.
78	* MethodActing: Yeoh, who grew up in an English/Malay-speaking household, also spent a year learning Mandarin for her role in ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragon''.
79	* NoStuntDouble: She did all of her own stunts in her action movies.
80	* PlayingAgainstType:
81	** She played the Soothsayer in ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'', a wise old woman who doesn't kick ass and take names, but just snarks at the BigBad.
82	** In ''Series/StrikeBack: Legacy'', she plays the British ambassador's wife. [[spoiler:She's also a mole for the North Korean Office 39 and kills her husband.]]
83	** In ''Film/{{Sunshine}}'' she's a milquetoast botanist who [[spoiler:is anti-climatically stabbed in the back.]]
84	** In ''Film/CrazyRichAsians'', she's the [[AlmightyMom no-nonsense matriarch]] of the Young family, one of the richest families in Singapore, who dislikes her son's girlfriend for her commoner background.
85	* ThoseTwoActors: Starred alongside Creator/JetLi in 3 films, Film/TaiChiMaster (where they play allies), ''Film/{{Fearless\|2006}}'' (where they didn't share any screen-time) and ''Film/TheMummyTombOfTheDragonEmperor'' (where they play enemies).
86	** She's also starred alongside Creator/DonnieYen several times, most notably in ''Film/ButterflyAndSword'' and ''Film/CrouchingTigerHiddenDragonSwordOfDestiny''.
87	* ShapedLikeItself: When asked about her fighting style.
88	--->'''Yeoh''': It's a Michelle thing. I didn't have to learn one particular style. When you are doing an action sequence, there is not one style. Also, the traditional styles look too dated... It would not work in a street situation. I learned all the basics moves, the stance, the kick. And then you improvise on film.
89	* {{Typecasting}}: In recent times, whenever there's a need for an ass-kicking LadyOfWar in big budget Hollywood films or TV series, she's there.

Context Creator / MichelleYeoh