KUALA LUMPUR – After making history as the first Asian to win Best Actress at the recent Academy Awards, Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh has brought home her Oscar statuette to her beloved family in time for the Qingming festival.
In a heartfelt Facebook post, the 60-year-old actress shared photos of her mother, 84-year-old Janet Yeoh, holding on to the trophy – as well as another image of the prize held in front of her father Datuk Yeoh Kian-teik’s tombstone.
In the post, Yeoh paid tribute to her parents for the achievement of a lifetime.
“Brought Mr O (Oscar trophy) home….without my parents’s love, trust and support, I wouldn’t be here today.” she said in a brief caption of the posting.
Yeoh’s father, who was a prominent businessman and former Perak MCA chairman, passed away in 2014.
The posting comes a month after Yeoh won an Oscar in the Best Actress category for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Yeoh beat four other actresses in the category – Cate Blanchett for Tár, Ana de Armas for Blonde, Andrea Riseborough for To Leslie, and Michelle Williams for The Fabelmans.
Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (who are known as The Daniels), the comedy-drama explores the relationship between Yeoh, who plays Evelyn Wang – a middle-aged Chinese American immigrant – and her daughter Joy, played by Stephanie Hsu.
Yeoh started her acting career in Hong Kong in the 1980s, which paved the way for her career in Hollywood.
The Oscar win marks a career high point for Yeoh, who rose to stardom in the Hong Kong action cinema of the 80s and 90s before gaining Western attention in the 1997 Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies.
However, she turned down any work until 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, which was nominated for 10 Oscars – though none for acting – and winning for Best Foreign Language Film.
Yeoh has been working consistently in Hollywood, gaining new fans with 2018’s Crazy Rich Asians. She also made an appearance in the 2021 Marvel film Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. – The Vibes, April 12, 2023
