Other names: Michelle Khan
Date of birth: August 6, 1962 (Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia)
Occupation: Actor, producer, dancer
Style: Ballet
Biography: Born in Malaysia to a Chinese family – a politician and lawyer’s daughter – Michelle Yeoh trained in ballet from the age of four. At 15, she moved to England to attend boarding school, studying ballet at the Royal Academy of Dance in London. Achieving a BA in Creative Arts and Drama, she was prevented from a professional career in ballet because of a spinal injury. At 21, she won the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant and went on to take part in the 1983 Miss World pageant in England. After appearing in a television commercial with Jackie Chan in 1984 for Guy Laroche wrist watches, she was spotted by new Hong Kong production company D&B Films, run by Sammo Hung and the prominent retail businessman Dickson Poon. She made her feature film debut in the Sammo Hung action comedy Owl vs. Bombo (1984), and was quickly promoted to a starring role for the D&B production Police Assassins (1985), playing a tough kung fu cop alongside American fighter Cynthia Rothrock. Yeoh enjoyed success in Hong Kong action movies under the alias of ‘Michelle Khan’, considered by D&B Films to be a more marketable name. In 1988, Yeoh married D&B Films owner Dickson Poon and retired from the film industry. When the pair divorced after three and a half years, Yeoh returned to the big screen alongside Jackie Chan in the highly successful Police Story 3: Supercop (1992). She made her Hollywood film debut alongside Pierce Brosnan in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies. In the same year, she was chosen by People magazine as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World. In 2000, she was nominated for a BAFTA in the Best Actress category for her role as Yu Shu-lien in the highly acclaimed Ang Lee film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), which would go on to win over 40 international awards, including four Academy Awards. As a fluent English and Malay speaker, she was taught phonetically to speak the film’s Mandarin dialogue. Yeoh launched her own production company, Mythical Films, in 2002. In 2007, Yeoh was named a Chevalier (Knight) of the French Legion d’Honneur – the highest order in France – by French President Jacques Chirac. In 2008, Yeoh publicly announced her engagement to leading French motor racing figure Jean Todt. In 2011, Yeoh was cast as the Burmese democratic politician Aung San Suu Kyi for a film about her life called The Lady, directed by Luc Besson.
Speech! With the Sunday Times: “I have had no regrets. If I have made a mistake then I move on. This journey for me is an adventure. I got into it completely by luck. It was destiny, in a strange kind of way.”
Filmography (as actress): 1984 Owl vs Bombo; 1985 Police Assassins; Twinkle Twinkle Lucky Stars; 1986 In the Line of Duty; 1987 Magnificent Warriors; Easy Money; 1992 Police Story 3: Supercop; 1993 The Heroic Trio; Butterfly and Sword; Executioners; Holy Weapon; Once a Cop; The Tai Chi Master; 1994 Shaolin Popey II: Messy Temple; Wonder Seven; Wing Chun; 1996 Ah Kam; 1997 The Soong Sisters; Tomorrow Never Dies; 1999 Moonlight Express; 2000 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon; 2002 The Touch (+ pro); 2004 Silver Hawk (+ pro); 2005 Memoirs of a Geisha; 2006 Fearless; 2007 Sunshine; Far North; 2008 The Children of Huang Shi; Babylon A.D.; The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor; 2009 Turning Point; Make Roads Safe (documentary); 2010 True Legend; Reign of Assassins; 2011 Kung Fu Panda 2; The Lady
Kung Fu Movie Guide 