Michelle Yeoh is a Malaysian actress who has received many awards and nominations. Following a spinal injury that prevented Yeoh from pursuing a professional ballet career, she began competing in beauty pageants. In 1983, she was crowned Miss World Malaysia at the age of 20 and represented her country in the Miss World pageant, where she placed 18th overall. A year later, she went on to win the title Miss Moomba International in Australia.
Michelle Yeoh's first starring role in Yes, Madam earned her her first nomination at the Hong Kong Film Awards for Best New Performer. In 1998, Yeoh received her second nomination for Best Supporting Actress for The Soong Sisters. In the same year, Yeoh's first role in Hollywood in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies earned her an MTV Movie & TV Awards nomination in the Best Fight category. In the early 21st century, Yeoh gained widespread recognition for her role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the first foreign-language film to surpass $100 million at the box office in the United States, which brought her numerous award nominations, including the British Academy Film Awards, Chlotrudis Awards, Saturn Awards, Hong Kong Film Awards, Golden Horse Awards, Toronto Film Critics Association, Vancouver Film Critics Circle. She was also awarded Best Film Actress by the Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy.
The next era was marked by fluctuations in the actress's career. She embarked on producing her first two English-language films, The Touch and Silver Hawk, through Mythical Company, Yeoh's own production company, earning her two Huabiao Awards for Outstanding Co-Production Film. In 2011, Yeoh received Satellite Award and Asian Film Award nominations for her performance as a Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and for her role in the wuxia film Reign of Assassins. Seven years later, her participation in the series ' earned her a second Saturn Award nomination in the category Best Guest Starring Role on Television. Additionally, the success of the project Crazy Rich Asians has resulted in further nominations, including those from the AARP Movies for Grownups Awards, Dorian Awards, Actor Awards, as well as a Best Cast award from the National Board of Review.
As the female lead in the film Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), she received her second British Academy Film Award nomination and earned multiple accolades, including the National Board of Review, Critics' Choice Super, Satellite, and Saturn Awards. Her Golden Globe win made her the second actress of Asian descent to win Best Actress in a Motion Picture (Musical or Comedy), after Awkwafina. She was also the first Asian woman to win the Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role.
On March 12, 2023, Yeoh won the Academy Award for Best Actress, becoming the first Asian actress to receive the award in the 95-year history of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which was recognized by Guinness World Records, and the second woman of color to win in that category after Halle Berry. She is also only the second Asian performer nominated for Best Actress, following Merle Oberon in 1936.