Malaysian star Michelle Yeoh urges women to resist being ‘put in a box’

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, winner of the Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” arrives to give a press conference in Kuala Lumpur on April 18, 2023. MOHD RASFAN / AFP

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia—Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh spoke up on Tuesday, April 18, for diversity and women’s empowerment in the entertainment industry, telling reporters in Kuala Lumpur, “We should never allow somebody to put us in a box.”

Speaking at her first news conference in her home country since her historic best actress win, the Malaysian star returned to themes that had been a staple of her awards season interviews.

“I have been very blessed that I’ve continuously been able to work, and work (with) very interesting, very diverse and very forward-thinking filmmakers. That has enabled me to fight for what I truly believe in: representation, diversity, especially empowerment of women,” she said.

“I don’t believe just because we are women, we are a weaker sex… We should never allow somebody to put us in a box.”

Winning the best actress Oscar—as the first Asian woman ever to do so—”represents so much to so many of us,” she continued, adding that she “heard the roar of joy, happiness all across the world to Los Angeles” following her victory.

Yeoh won the award for her portrayal of Chinese-American laundromat owner Evelyn Wang, who deals with family turmoil while battling an interdimensional villain in the sci-fi action comedy “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

The lack of Asian representation at Hollywood’s highest levels had been a recurring topic in her interviews ahead of the awards.

Yeoh was due to meet with fans later at a fancy shopping mall in the heart of Kuala Lumpur.

Asked about her advice to young people around the world, she said: “Don’t become me, be you… I believe that you are going to be better.”

The 60-year-old Hollywood veteran was born to Chinese-Malaysian parents in the northern city of Ipoh. She embraced dance as a child and specialized in ballet, which she studied in England.

Yeoh’s film credits stretch back to the 1980s, but her Hollywood breakthrough came when she was cast as the first ethnic Chinese Bond girl in 1997’s “Tomorrow Never Dies” opposite Pierce Brosnan.

She also starred in the Oscar-winning 2000 martial arts film “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,” the 2005 period drama “Memoirs of a Geisha” and the 2018 romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians.”  /ra

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