Michelle Yeoh
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Profile
- Name: Michelle Yeoh
- Chinese: 杨紫琼 /Yeoh Choo-Kheng
- Birthdate: August 6, 1962
- Birthplace: Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia
- Height: 1.63 m
- Blood Type:
Bio
Born as Yang Zi Chong in the mining town of Ipoh in West Malaysia in the lunar year of the Tiger, she spoke English and Malay before Chinese. A ballet dancer since age 4, she moved to London, England to study at the Royal Academy as a teenager. After a brief dance career, she won the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant title in her native country and the Miss Moomba beauty pageant title in Melbourne, Australia in the early 1980s. Her first on camera work was a 1984 commercial with martial arts star Jackie Chan. In 1985, she began making action movies with D&B Films of Hong Kong. She was first billed as Michelle Khan, then later, Michelle Yeoh. Never a trained martial artist, she relied on her dance discipline and her on-set trainers to prepare for her martial arts action scenes.
She uses many dance moves in her films. She still does most of her own stunts and has been injured many times. Ironically, she still cannot read Chinese and she has to have Chinese script read to her. In 1988, she married wealthy D&B Films executive Dickson Poon and retired from acting. Even though they divorced in 1992, she is close to Poon's second wife and a godmother to Poon's daughter. When she returned to acting, she became very popular to Chinese audiences and she became known to western audiences through her co-starring roles in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and in the phenomenally successful Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) aka Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon' directed by Ang Lee. She turned down a role in a sequel to The Matrix (1999).
She has her own production company, Mythical Films and has trained with the Shen Yang Acrobatic team for her role in The Touch (2002), an English language film she is both starring in and producing. She hopes to use her company to discover and nurture new filmmaking talent. She also wants to act in roles that combine both action and deeper spiritual themes.
Filmography
- The Lady | Um Coração Dividido (2011) - Aung San Suu Kyi
- Kung Fu Panda 2 | (2011) - Soothsayer (voice)
- Reign of Assassins | Jianyu (2010) - Zeng Jing
- Doraemon: The New Record of Nobita: Spaceblazer (2010)
- True Legend | Su Qi Er (2010)
- The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008)
- Babylon A.D. (2008)
- The Children of Huang Shi (2008)
- Far North (2007)
- Sunshine (2007)
- Fearless (2006) (directors cut only)
- Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
- Silver Hawk (2004)
- The Touch (2002)
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
- Moonlight Express (1999)
- Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
- The Soong Sisters (1997)
- The Stunt Woman (a.k.a Ah Kam) (1996)
- Wonder Seven (1994)
- Shaolin Popey 2 - Messy Temple (1994)
- The Tai-Chi Master (1994)
- Wing Chun (1994)
- Once a Cop a.k.a. Project S a.k.a. Supercop 2 (1993)
- Holy Weapon (1993)
- Executioners (1993)
- Butterfly and Sword (1993)
- The Heroic Trio (1993)
- Police Story III: Supercop (1992)
- Easy Money (1987)
- Magnificent Warriors (1987)
- In the Line of Duty a.k.a. Royal Warriors (1986)
- Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985)
- Yes, Madam (1985)
- The Owl and Dumbo (1984)
