Michelle Yeoh with her Oscar on Sunday. (AFP Photo)
Michelle Yeoh made history on Sunday by becoming the first Asian woman to win best actress Oscar. She won the award for her role in the sci-fi movie 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'.
Here are five facts on Michelle Yeoh:
- Michelle Yeoh was born to Malaysian-Chinese parents on August 6, 1962 in the city of Ipoh, 200 kilometers north of Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. She embraced dance as a child and specialised in ballet, which she studied in England.
- Her beauty pageant journey began by chance, when her mother gave her name in the Miss Malaysia contest without consulting her.
- Ms Yeoh had to give up her dance career due to a back injury in the 1980s, but used the skill learned there to appear in action films alongside big names, such as Jackie Chan.
- She became globally famous after playing a Chinese spy opposite Pierce Brosnan in the James Bond installment 'Tomorrow Never Dies' (1997). 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' and 'Memoirs of a Geisha' are her other massively successful films.
- Ms Yeoh lives with her partner, Jean Todt, the former head of the International Automobile Federation (FIA), which governs the Formula One circuit.
