Michelle Yeoh

Michelle Yeoh was married to Hong Kong entrepreneur and film producer Dickson Poon from 1988 to 1992. She began a relationship with Jean Todt in 2004, and they married in Geneva on 27 July 2023.

Yeoh has no children. She has said that her inability to have children contributed to the end of her first marriage.

Yeoh began ballet at the age of four and moved to England at 15 to continue her training. A spinal injury ended her hopes of becoming a professional ballet dancer, after which she studied choreography and other arts and earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Crewe + Alsager College of Higher Education in 1983.

That year, she won Miss Malaysia and represented Malaysia at the Miss World 1983 pageant. She later won the Miss Moomba International title in Australia. A television commercial with Jackie Chan led to an acting contract with the Hong Kong production company D&B Films. She initially appeared under the stage name Michelle Khan.

Her first major film role came in Yes, Madam (1985), after her debut in The Owl vs. Bumbo (1984). She trained extensively for action roles and performed many of her own stunts despite having no formal martial arts training. Her Hong Kong films included Royal Warriors, Magnificent Warriors, Police Story 3: Supercop, The Heroic Trio, Tai Chi Master, and Wing Chun.

Yeoh retired from acting after marrying Dickson Poon in 1988. Following their divorce, she returned to the screen in Police Story 3: Supercop (1992), co-starring with Jackie Chan. She suffered serious injuries during her stunt work, including a fractured vertebra and cracked ribs while filming The Stunt Woman.

Yeoh became widely known outside Asia after playing Chinese agent Wai Lin opposite Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). The role moved beyond the conventional Bond girl character by presenting Wai Lin as an intelligent and capable action partner for Bond. Yeoh performed the fighting scenes herself, although the director did not allow her to perform every stunt.

Her role as warrior Yu Shu Lien in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) brought further international recognition. The film combined martial arts action with a dramatic love story and earned Yeoh a BAFTA nomination for Best Actress. She later appeared in Memoirs of a Geisha, Sunshine, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor, Reign of Assassins, and The Lady, in which she portrayed Aung San Suu Kyi.

Yeoh also expanded into television, playing roles in Strike Back, Marco Polo, and Star Trek: Discovery. In the latter series, she played Captain Philippa Georgiou and a mirror-universe version of the character. She appeared as Eleanor Young in Crazy Rich Asians (2018), as Ying Nan in Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021), and as Madame Morrible in Wicked (2024).

In Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), Yeoh played Evelyn Quan Wang, a struggling laundromat owner who encounters different versions of herself while attempting to save the multiverse. The role required her to portray contrasting versions of Evelyn, including a character with advanced martial arts abilities.

Yeoh won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy, the Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Performance, and the Academy Award for Best Actress for the role. She became the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award in that category and the first Malaysian to be nominated for and win an Academy Award. She also became the first Asian woman to win the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.

Her other work has included the films A Haunting in Venice, The School for Good and Evil, and The Brothers Sun, as well as voice roles in Minions: The Rise of Gru, Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank, Transformers: Rise of the Beasts, and The Tiger's Apprentice.

Yeoh has worked on road safety, wildlife conservation, HIV/AIDS awareness, poverty reduction, gender equality, and disaster relief. She has been an ambassador for the FIA's Make Roads Safe campaign, a WildAid ambassador, and a United Nations Development Programme goodwill ambassador for the Sustainable Development Goals. She also supported the Save China's Tigers project and participated in the documentary Among the Great Apes with Michelle Yeoh.

After surviving the 2015 Nepal earthquake, Yeoh returned to the country to support rehabilitation efforts and donated €100,000 for victims. She has also worked with organisations including AIDS Concern, the Hong Kong Cancer Fund, amfAR, and the Suu Foundation.

Her honours include the Malaysian title of Tan Sri, the French Legion of Honour, the Excellence in Asian Cinema award, inclusion on the BBC's 100 Women list, and recognition on Time magazine's 100 Most Influential People list. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2024.