The Importance of Michelle Yeoh's Oscar Victory

Huge congratulations to the great Michelle Yeoh, now even more legendary for becoming the first Asian woman to win a Best Actress Oscar for her performance in the equally stunning Everything Everywhere All At Once. It’s extra impressive how this movie, an offbeat indie underdog if ever there was one, also scored Best Picture, Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Supporting Actor for Ke Huy Quan, Best Supporting Actress for Jamie Lee Curtis, and Best Director for Daniel Kwan + Daniel Scheinert (collectively ‘Daniels’).

This wonderful and unique film, already earning cult status among fans, also got joint first place as our “best fight film of 2022” in the end-of-year Kung Fu Movie Guide round up show, which I join as an annual guest. Yes I know, it’s not a pure action film in the traditional sense, but with so much martial arts sewn in, we didn’t want to exclude it, and I personally loved it’s originality and surrealist style.

To put Michelle Yeoh’s win in context points to a wider story as she has long been one of the Asia's most talented, hard-working and gracious stars - a staple of Hong Kong action cinema. From an early role in 1984’s The Owl vs Bumbo, she landed better known (now iconic) action roles in the likes of Yes, Madam (with Cynthia Rothrock), Police Story III: Supecop and its Michelle-led spin-off Supercop 2 (both with Jackie Chan), Tai Chi Master (with Jet Li) and The Stunt Woman, in which she suffered a fractured vertebra and ribs.

For anyone unfamiliar with the insanely demanding and gruelling physical requirements of working in Hong Kong action cinema in the 1980’s and 90’s, let’s just say it was an environment endured by few, and thrived in by far less! Actors (even action vets) were often doubled and even experienced stunt performers (those outside the go-to stunt teams) were sometimes sent home for lacking the speed and rhythm required to deliver what is widely considered the best action filmmaking in the world. It was also very male-dominated at that time. The fact that Michelle Yeoh worked several times in these films and is celebrated for her work shows the level of talent we’re dealing with. Her work stands in an arena co-inhabited by the likes of Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung and Shaw Brothers studio classics. The best of the best.

Luckily, Yeoh recovered well after the injuries sustained filming The Stunt Woman and she would go on to appear in the Pierce Brosnan led James Bond 007 outing, Tomorrow Never Dies, the Oscar winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Memoirs of a Geisha, Crazy Rich Asians, Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings and other mainstream roles, establishing herself as a household name over a number of years. She also served as inspiration for Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill (he’s said to be a big fan of Police Story III: Supercop).

Winning her Best Actress Oscar for Everything, Everywhere, an enormous accolade on a global stage, at the age of 60, is surely a reminder to stay true to your path. While it may appear to be a more mature, seasoned role for Michelle Yeoh, in many ways it combines all the attributes we’ve come to know and love from her. It draws on her dramatic talents, her comic timing, her heartwarming earnest persona, her vulnerability, yet her immense physical skill when the situation arises. As well as being a personal victory for the action vet, it will no doubt help raise the profile of her early work and bring more fans to unearth some gems of Hong Kong action cinema. It should also force audiences and decision makers in the industry to re-evaluate ideas surrounding women in film, women in action and constraints placed through typecasting, whether by gender, age or race.

I’ve never been one for gatekeeping. Actually I hate it, and this can be rife in action cinema, and geek culture generally. The way I see it, we should want to share the things we love with as many people as possible. When an audience grows and there’s more demand (translated: commercial viability) it’s only a good thing. It leads to more platforms for films of a certain kind - whether that’s old school Hong Kong action or unconventional work like Everything, Everywhere. It also leads to more chances being taken, and more of that work being made, screened, distributed… and celebrated. With a growing number of boutique labels and restorations presenting new and classic films, there’s never been a better time to be a fan. So go on and discover, or rediscover, some of the hugely influential work from Michelle Yeoh.