Michelle Yeoh on acting, Hollywood and female leadership...
I never planned to be an actress. I always wanted to start my own school of ballet, have
a lot of girls and boys running around, teaching
something that I love, which would be ballet. Somehow I was invited to go to Hong Kong to
do a commercial with Jackie Chan and very soon I was offered a film contract and I thought
nothing ventured nothing gained, and so that was my introduction to the film world
in Hong Kong. I did start off in the traditional love story
role, where I played the damsel in distress. And I think at that time it was very much
the man’s world doing the real action, with JackieChan, Sammo Hung,
Yuen Biao, Jet Li, just to name a few. But I was fascinated with that world because
to me it looked like a big choreography piece. It really looks like dance, looks like movements
being put together. And so I requested, I would love to try that
because I think I should be able to handle it because of my
dance training, and also I have always been very sporty.
Michelle Yeoh found fame in Hong Kong action films in 1980s.
She was known for doing her own stunts. That experience set her up for the action-packed
Bond girl role in Tomorrow Never Dies, her Hollywood debut in 1997.
Was I welcomed to America as an Asian actor? At that time it was a little bit of a shock
to the system when you go from Asia and you go
into America, and suddenly you're known as a minority.
That word, to be honest, was something new to me.
If you looked at, even on TV or any of the movies from Hollywood
there were very very little Asian faces on screen.
And when there are, a lot of the times they were very stereotypical.
At the beginning when you read the scripts, it always has t
o explain why there is, where this Chinese or Asian -looking person came from.
'Oh, it's from the laundromat or from Chinatown,' and you go 'seriously?'
What has happened is, it has changed over the last two years
because I think all these different
movements, all these voices are being heard.
And also when there is a box office success like, for example, in Crazy Rich Asians
then you cannot deny that's what the audience wants, and that's
a giant step for us.
We see ourselves as sometimes being funny or whatever it is but we should laugh together.
And I think that is what happened with Crazy Rich Asians, it's like
we all just embrace each other and say: 'High five, that was pretty
cool'. She is set to star in the Avatar sequels
and a new Marvel franchise. I am very very happy that finally we have
our own superhero. You have Black Panther, right,
you even have the Hulk, Thor, Black Widow. Finally, yes, Shang Chi.
As an actress in her late fifties, she says
her continued success is a sign things are changing.
Now that more mature actresses have taken on the roles as producers
not just allowing themselves to be sidelined.
Those who have been very successful actresses have stepped forward and stepped up.
They have successfully created many many more roles for strong woman and their stories that
need to be told. In her work as a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador
Michelle speaks out about poverty and women’s rights.
Being a goodwill ambassador has given me a platform whereby I am not only helping them
highlight the sustainable development goals. I’m also able to be a voice and speak for
those who have not got that right voice, and to
be heard. Times have changed and we see woman in power,
but not just woman in power, woman who have made that power and
changed lives for the better. Men have been leading in all different aspects
of our lives, whether at work, in the countries. And you can see in the last few years, especially
I think today, where countries have woman
leaders, they seem to have come out a much better way with this pandemic.
So yes, woman leaders are so important. These little girls who are growing up right now,
I want them to see these woman leaders and go
‘see that’s a role for me, I can be that, I can
be that’. And that I think it’s t he most important like, do I take it upon
myself and say, I take it upon myself as a person, not as a gender.
I've been very blessed where I do not have to fight for a lot of
things as 'a woman' has to. I've had equal opportunities
in work, in education in the ability to voice my beliefs
and express my views.
So in that way I continue to fight for that and show that it can be done.
Because if I can do it, then I want those little girls to say,
'I can do that too'. And I think that is the most
important message.