Michelle Yeoh
A Malaysian actress of action films including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), who has never trained in martial arts and learns her scenes as choreography.
Quick Facts
MalaysiaBiography
Michelle Yeoh was born on 6 August 1962 in Ipoh, in the Malaysian state of Perak, into a family with Hokkien and Cantonese roots. Her connection to martial arts comes from action films, among them Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).
She practiced ballet from the age of four; at fifteen she moved to England and trained at The Hammond School in Chester. A spinal injury prevented a professional ballet career, so she turned to choreography instead. In 1983 she earned a BA from Crewe + Alsager College of Higher Education, and that same year won the Miss Malaysia World competition.
Her first film work was a 1983 commercial for Guy Laroche watches with Jackie Chan; she initially performed under the name Michelle Khan. She has never trained in martial arts; she learns all action sequences as choreography right on set. According to the source, it is precisely her ballet foundation that lets her master long sequences and precise movement that look like years of training. She is often cited as the most common example of an actress whom audiences mistakenly believe to be a genuine martial artist.
In 2023 she won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once, becoming the first Asian woman in that category, and for the same role also won the Golden Globe and the Screen Actors Guild Award. In 2024 she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Filmography
A screen role does not mean the person actually practises the art — that is listed above.