Ipoh-born veteran actress Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh has had a truly storied career in both Hollywood as well as Hong Kong cinema. Having found her first taste of filmmaking back in the 1980s, she would eventually go on to cement her name as one of the most instantly recognisable action stars within Asia thanks to her role in some of the most popular blockbusters of the time.
And with her pivoting into Hollywood with the 1997 Bond flick Tomorrow Never Dies, she went on to once again prove her mettle through a string of memorable movies, before eventually shattering the glass ceiling for Asians in cinema by being the first-ever Asian woman to ever take home the Best Actress accolade at the 95th Academy Awards earlier this week on Monday (March 13th, 2023).
In honour of her excellence in film, we’ve rounded up some of the best movies that Michelle has starred in, from the 1980s to present day! So sit down, grab some popcorn, and let’s take a moment out of this weekend to celebrate the Academy Award’s first-ever Best Actress winner!
1. Yes, Madam! (1985)
Perhaps the best place to start-off with Michelle Yeoh’s career in film would be the first-ever movie that she was ever cast for a leading role in — Yes, Madam! Released all the way back in 1985, it was produced by notable Hong Kong actor Sammo Hung, and directed by Corey Yuen. Michelle stars as Senior Inspector Ng, who forms an allegiance with Inspector Carrie Morris played by martial arts expert and actress Cynthia Rothrock, to obtain a roll of microfilm that was stolen.
A relatively popular movie upon its debut, it has been described by Lisa Funnel, assistant professor in the Women’s and Gender Studies Program at the University of Oklahoma, as being the first ‘girls with guns’ film, which has since been popularised by other titles such as Lara Croft, and Ghost In The Shell.
2. Police Story 3: Supercop (1992)
In terms of sheer commercial popularity, it was Police Story 3: Supercop that really helped propel Michelle Yeoh to the very top of the blockbuster charts in Hong Kong. A typical fast-paced, high-octane, gun-slinging police flick from the Police Story franchise (which numbers a total of seven films), Michelle stars ‘Jessica’ Yang Chien-Hua, an Interpol inspector based out of Beijing.
It was also one of the first films through which North American audiences were introduce to Michelle, as the movie would later receive a wide release in 1996 across 1,406 theaters.
3. The Heroic Trio (1993)
Another landmark action movie in Michelle’s career as a bona-fide Hong Kong action star is her incredibly campy outing as villainess turned unlikely heroine, Ching, in the 1993 movie The Heroic Trio. The plot is admittedly nonsensical, involving the kidnapping of babies destined to be emperors by a subterranean supervillain known aptly as the ‘Evil Master’.
But the cast is nonetheless formidable, featuring not just Michelle, but as well as the late Hong Kong Cantopop diva Anita Mui, as well as actress Maggie Cheung, as a trinity of crime-fighting femme fatales.
3. Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
In a very fortuitous stroke of luck, Michelle found herself being cast as the next Bond girl for the 1997 James Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies. At the time, this was Irish actor Pierce Brosnan’s second outing in the titular role, with Michelle playing opposite him as Chinese Ministry of State Security secret agent Wai Lin.
Her introduction to Western audiences as the franchise’s very first Bond girl of Asian-ethnicity was met with critical acclaim and is often regarded as being one of the best female characters to have been written from the Bond series. In fact, her character was so popular that MGM Studios had even considered running a spin-off movie series based off on Wai Lin. She was even meant to have starred in the subsequent film, Die Another Day, before the idea fell through.
4. The Soong Sisters (1997)
But asides from her successful debut in Western cinema, Michelle had also starred in an equally well-received historical drama that was also released in 1997, known as The Soong Sisters. The film depicts the lives of the namesake sisters, who went on to marry three of the most significant historical figures that contributed to the founding of the short-lived Republic of China — Sun Yat-sen, Chiang Kai-shek and K’ung Hsiang-hsi.
Michelle played the eldest Soong sister, businesswoman Soong Ai-ling who married K’ung Hsiang-hsi, the richest man in China during the 20th Century. It went on to win in a number of categories at the 1997 Golden Horse awards, as well as 1998 Hong Kong Film Awards.
5. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Quite possibly one of the most well known wuxia films from the genre, Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon became a monumental success in both Asia as well as global film markets. Michelle plays the role of Yu Shu Lien, a female warrior from the Qing dynasty who also runs her own private security company. During the filming of the movie, Michelle had to learn her Mandarin lines phonetically as she could not speak the language.
The film was especially noted for its critical acclaim among Western audiences, and went on to receive 10 nominations at the 2001 Academy Awards, as well as winning four BAFTA awards and two Golden Globe awards. It has also been credited for popularising the wuxia genre to the West, leading to films such as the House of Flying Daggers being produced.
6. The Lady (2011)
French director Luc Besson’s biopic, The Lady, saw Michelle Yeoh being cast in the role of Burmese Opposition leader and Nobel Prize laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi. Filmed in Burma, she was said to have watched over 200 hours of audiovisual material on the resistance leader to perfect her portrayal, and even took up lessons to learn Burmese to ensure that she could reproduce her speeches as authentically as possible.
It was claimed that extras who were working on the film had outbursts of emotion upon hearing Michelle deliver her speeches as Suu Kyi, as some of them were present when Suu Kyi herself had made them originally.
7. Crazy Rich Asians (2019)
Widely considered to be the first film made by a major Hollywood studio since 1993’s The Joy Luck Club to feature an all-ensemble cast of Asian actors, Crazy Rich Asians soon became a runaway hit across the globe. But for us Malaysians, the film was especially notable for featuring not just Michelle, but Malaysian-British actor Henry Golding as well.
In her role as Yong family matriarch Eleanor, Michelle received much praise from critics alike, many whom were especially impressed by her ability to veer between a domineering persona, before showing brief but exceptional moments of vulnerability as a mother to Henry Golding’s character.
8. Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022)
And at long-last, we arrive at the magnum opus of Michelle Yeoh’s career thus far; Everything Everywhere All At Once. The movie, which once again pushes the boundaries of Asian representation in Western cinema, had initially been written for Hong Kong acting veteran Jackie Chan. It was later rewritten to feature overwhelmed laundromat owner, Evelyn Quan Wang, as an unlikely multiverse-hopping superhero.
Especially noted for its depiction of the Asian-American identity and its exploration of themes including generational trauma as well existentialism, the film went on to sweep the awards circuit in both 2022 and now 2023. Above all, it was through this film that Michelle became the first-ever Malaysian to ever win an Oscar, while becoming the first Asian woman to win Best Actress in the Academy’s 95-year history.
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