Michelle Yeoh was immortalized in Oscar history when she became the first Asian woman to win an Oscar for best actress for “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” This time, she will be immortalized
on Hollywood Boulevard when she receives a star on the Walk of Fame on Feb. 18.
“I remember when I first went to the Walk of Fame because it’s very iconic. You want to go there because all your big heroes who’ve been in the business since you were a kid are there. And I remember looking, ‘Oh, here’s so and so!’ So now just to think that I’m getting it, it’s a dream come true,” Yeoh told Variety.
Yeoh was a superstar in Asia, but her Hollywood career began when she played James Bond sidekick Wai Lin in 1997’s “Tomorrow Never Dies.”
But her big breakout with Western audiences was in the Mandarin-language “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” (2000).
The international co-production is still the highest-grossing non-English language film in the U.S., with $128 million in domestic box office.
Yeoh continued to act in Hollywood films, such as “Memoirs of a Geisha.”
Then came 2018’s “Crazy Rich Asians.”
Directed by Jon M. Chu, it was one of the first English-language films in 25 years to feature an all-Asian cast — including Constance Wu, Awkwafina, Ken Jeong and Ronny Chieng – and it grossed over $239 million worldwide.
Yeoh became more in-demand for films — including Marvel tentpole “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings” — but in 2022, everything changed again. Her lead turn in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” a twisty, multiverse-leaping drama in which she plays a mother and wife who’s seemingly on her last nerve, brought her Oscar buzz.
“They initially wrote it for a man. I think it’s the norm, because it would be easier to
finance,” said Yeoh at the time. “It would be easier to understand that a guy would multiverse jump. But then they changed it into a mother role, which actually suits the directors [Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert] so much more, because they’re surrounded by very strong, smart women.”
Then, in March 2023, she won the Oscar. “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities,” Yeoh said from the stage. “This is proof that dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you that you are ever past your prime Never give up.”
She never gave up.
After her win, Yeoh went back to London, where she was filming “Wicked.” Chu had cast her as Madame Morrible, a role she was hesitant to take on since she’d also be singing along with performing. Chu remembered, “She would lip-sync, and I was wondering why. I’ve never seen Michelle scared. She is down for anything.”
No matter what he said, he could see how intimidated Yeoh was, but it was one of the film’s stars who stepped in to help.
“Cynthia [Erivo] finally said to her, ‘You should sing. Don’t worry, you sound beautiful.’ I think that permission from Cynthia really allowed Michelle to get comfortable, and she was able to become Madame Morrible in that moment where singing wasn’t a song, it was just expression. It was beautiful to see.”
Yeoh has found herself connecting to younger audiences while continuing to break glass ceilings; she was, in fact, the first Asian woman to play Madame Morrible, and won’t be the last.
After earning her Walk of Fame star, Yeoh will be seen in fourth and fifth installments on the “Avatar” franchise and will return to the action genre in “The Surgeon” before leading Amazon Prime Video’s “Blade Runner 2099” series.
variety.com
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