Oscars 2023: Michelle Yeoh makes history to become first Asian woman nominated for ‘Best Actress’
Michelle Yeoh has made Academy Awards history as the first Asian actor to be nominated for ‘Best Actress in a Leading Role’ for her performance as Evelyn Quan Wang in Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheiner’s sci-fi comedy Everything Everywhere All At Once. Yeoh plays a dissatisfied Chinese-American immigrant who discovers she can connect with parallel versions of herself after being audited by the IRS.
Riz Ahmed and Allison Williams just announced Yeoh’s nomination, with fellow nominees including Cate Blanchett for her role in Tár, Ana De Armas for the controversial Blonde, Andrea Riseborough for To Leslie and Michelle Williams for The Fabelmans. Yeoh’s star appearance in the film is her first leading role in a Hollywood picture after a 59-year career, including timeless performances in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, Tomorrow Never Dies and Crazy Rich Asians.
The Evening Standard reported in 2020 that across 91 ceremonies, only 32 Oscars have been handed to actors of colour. With 336 trophies dished out in total, it means that 9% of the recipients were of colour. That number went up during the 93rd Academy Awards in 2021 as Chinese filmmaker Chloé Zhao received the award for ‘Best Director’, being the second woman and first woman of colour to do so, and Ugandan-born British actor Daniel Kaluuya won ‘Best Supporting Actor’.
There are few nominations for women of colour from the global majority, with Halle Berry being the first black woman to win ‘Best Leading Actress’ 20 years ago for Monster’s Ball. Just four Latinas have received nods for best actress (starting with Fernanda Montenegro in 1999), and barely a dozen black women have been nominated. Yalitza Aparicio is one of only two Indigenous best actress nominees (Keisha Castle-Hughes won in 2004).
Now, Malaysian actor Yeoh joins this growing list of women of colour through her appearance in the film leading the Oscars with a total of 11 nominations, including ‘Best Picture’ and ‘Best Actor in a Supporting Role’ for Ke Huy Quan. The actor also received a Golden Globe for her performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
The 95th Academy Awards will take place Sunday, March 12th and will be hosted by comedian Jimmy Kimmel.
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