Michelle Yeoh names her favourite movie roles
One of the most highly-acclaimed action heroines of all time is undoubtedly Michelle Yeoh. She started her film career in the 1980s with Yes, Madam, performing her own stunts before starring in a number of other Hong Kong action flicks in the 1990s, including Supercop and Holy Weapon.
Since then, the Malaysian-born actress earned critical recognition for her roles in a wide variety of film genres, including further martial arts in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, espionage in Tomorrow Never Dies and period drama in Memoirs of a Geisha.
Last year, Yeoh was lavished with praise for her role in the Daniels’ multiverse drama spectacle Everything Everywhere All at Once, winning a Golden Globe and earning an Academy Award nomination in the process. It was simply the role of a lifetime for Yeoh and has made her one of the most sought-after actresses in the industry today.
Recently picking out her favourite film roles for The Hollywood Reporter, Yeoh admitted: “This is really hard; it’s like how do you choose between your children. But I’m going to give it a shot.” And here they are.
Michelle Yeoh’s favourite movie roles:
Yes, Madam (Corey Yuen, 1985) / Supercop (Stanley Tong, 1992)
Yeoh’s first choice is a bit of a cheat as she picks two at once, but we won’t deny her that. “I think my favourite or the one that made the most difference in my career – I’m going to pair it up,” she said. “Yes, Madam, my first action movie and Supercop – because that was when I came out of retirement and they gave me a whole fresh new start to my acting career.”
Yes, Madam saw Yeoh stars as a police inspector who is tasked with retrieving a microfilm, and Supercop also saw her play an Interpol detective based in Beijing, this time starring alongside Jackie Chan. As Yeoh explains, the latter film saw her come back into acting, so it holds a special place in her heart.
Memoirs of a Geisha (Rob Marshall, 2005) / Heroic Trio (Johnnie To, 1993)
Again, Yeoh sort of cheats with her next pick because of the two films’ similar casting. She said: “I did the amazing Memoirs of a Geisha with, including me, of course, three gorgeous women.” The 2005 film tells of a young Japanese girl who is sold to a geisha house to support her poor family.
Yeoh continued: “Then I did another one, Heroic Trio with, again, three gorgeous women.” Heroic Trio is a 1993 action flick which sees the three titular women face up against an invisible enemy who is stealing babies, showing that Yeoh can star in ridiculous films as well as touching ones.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (Ang Lee, 2000)
While Yeoh has starred in her fair share of American and Hong Kong films, she admits: “The favourite of my international movies would be Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” The film was released in 2005 and was directed by legendary Taiwanese director Ang Lee.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is regularly referred to as the best film ever made in the wuxia genre. It was based on a 1940s Chinese novel of the same name by Wang Dalu, and Yeoh played a female martial arts warrior in one of her most significant roles.
Tomorrow Never Dies (Roger Spottiswoode, 1997)
Three years prior to Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon’s release, Yeoh starred in a James Bond film , Tomorrow Never Dies, alongside Pierce Brosnan. She played the ‘Bond Girl’ Wai Lin so well that she has often been considered amongst the best of that rather outdated category of all time.
Wai Lin was, in fact, the first ethnic Chinese ‘Bond Girl’ who was able to match Bond in wit and intelligence rather than mere appearance. Of course, Yeoh already had experience in action and espionage films; still, she considers it one of her favourite roles, saying, “That set me off into a different place.”
Crazy Rich Asians (Jon M. Chu, 2018)
A few years back, Yeoh starred in the acclaimed romantic comedy-drama Crazy Rich Asians, based on the 2013 Kevin Kwan novel of the same name, alongside Constance Wu, Henry Golding and Gemma Chan. The film tells of a professor who travels to Singapore to meet her boyfriend’s family, only to discover they are extremely wealthy.
Yeoh played the role of the boyfriend’s mother, who is overprotective of him and does not want his American girlfriend in her home. Discussing her admiration for the role, Yeoh said: “Because it is a very strong mother role, family loving for all the best reasons, but always misunderstood. I was seen as a loving mother.”
Everything Everywhere All at Once (Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, 2022)
While Yeoh played, in her eyes, the caring, loving and protective mother in Crazy Rich Asians, she admitted that her role in last year’s acclaimed film Everything Everywhere All at Once is starkly different. “I play a completely insane mother,” she said.
Yeoh played a Chinese-American immigrant who finds that she can interact with parallel universes. However, she is reluctant at the chance to save the universe as she is utterly stressed out by her fractious relationships with her husband and daughter whilst being audited by the IRS.
The role has seen Yeoh win her first Golden Globe and her first Academy Award nomination. In fact, Yeoh is now the first Malaysian to be nominated for an Oscar and the first Asian to be nominated for the ‘Best Actress’ Academy Award.
