Yeoh, a Malaysian of Chinese descent, was born in Ipoh. Her parents, Janet Yeoh and Yeoh Kian Geik, are respectively a lawyer and MCA politician. She developed a love for dance from an early age and began ballet lessons at four years old. At 15 years old, she relocated with her family to England where she attended boarding school. In London, Yeoh pursued ballet studies at the Royal Academy of Dance but had to give up on her aspiration of becoming a professional dancer due to a spinal injury. This setback led her to redirect her focus towards choreography and other artistic endeavors.
She obtained a B. A. degree in Creative Arts with a minor in Drama. At the age of 20 in 1983, Yeoh emerged victorious in the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant and went on to represent Malaysia at the Queen of the Pacific 1983 beauty pageant held in Australia, where she was crowned. Additionally, she represented Malaysia at the 1983 Miss World pageant in London. Afterwards, she starred in a television advertisement alongside Jackie Chan, which drew the interest of D&B Films, a budding film production company in Hong Kong.
Yeoh began her film career by appearing in action and martial arts films such as Yes, Madam in 1985, during which she also performed her own stunts. [7] In 1987, Yeoh married Dickson Poon, who ran the D&B Group in Hong Kong, and subsequently retired from acting. However, after her divorce from Poon in 1992, Yeoh returned to the film industry. [1] Her outstanding performance in Police Story 3: Super Cop marked her comeback. Additionally, she starred in The Heroic Trio in 1993 and appeared in Yuen Woo-ping’s films Tai Chi Master and Wing Chun in 1994. Prior to Cantonese, Yeoh had learned English and Malay.
Yeoh learned the lines for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon phonetically. She portrayed Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), a James Bond film. Initially, Natasha Henstridge was rumored to be chosen as the main Bond girl, but Yeoh eventually secured the role [8]. Brosnan was highly impressed and praised her acting skills, describing her as a “wonderful actress” who displayed seriousness and dedication towards her work [9]. Due to her combat abilities, he even compared her to a “female James Bond”. Although Yeoh wished to perform her own stunts once again, director Roger Spottiswoode deemed it too risky.
Despite having all of her own fighting scenes, she was unable to accept the role of Seraph in The Matrix sequels due to a scheduling conflict. The writers then transformed the character into a male one and cast Collin Chou. In 2002, she produced her initial English film, The Touch, under her production company, Mythical Films. Yeoh portrayed the elegant Mameha in the film adaptation of Memoirs of a Geisha in 2005, and she furthered her involvement in English-language projects with Sunshine in 2007.
In 2008, Michelle Yeoh appeared in The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, a fantasy action film featuring Brendan Fraser and Jet Li [13]. She also attended the Toronto International Film Festival in 2011 [13]. On top of that, she took on the lead role in Reign of Assassins in 2010. Additionally, Guerlain selected her as their skincare ambassador in October 2011 [14]. By doing so, Yeoh will help strengthen the French cosmetics company’s ties with Asia [15]. Alongside her action film roles, she gained recognition for portraying nationalists in two biographical movies. In 1997, she played Soong Ai-ling in the critically acclaimed film The Soong Sisters. Furthermore, in 2011, she depicted Aung San Suu Kyi in Luc Besson’s The Lady.
