Michelle Yeoh is a Malaysian-born actress who moved from Hong Kong action films to Hollywood and became the first Asian woman to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. In February 2026 she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and on November 25 she appears in the series Blade Runner 2099. This guide summarises her career.
Early life
Wikipedia says she was born on 6 August 1962 in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia, began ballet at age four and moved to England at 15. A spinal injury ended her ballet career. NBC Los Angeles adds that she is known for performing many of her own stunts.
Hong Kong action cinema
Her 1980s and 1990s films include Yes, Madam, Police Story 3: Supercop, The Heroic Trio and Wing Chun. NBC Los Angeles notes that she was one of few women to lead Hong Kong action films in those decades.
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International breakthrough
Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997 introduced her to a global audience, where she played an equal partner to James Bond. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon followed in 2000, and her later films include Crazy Rich Asians, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, A Haunting in Venice and Wicked.
Awards
She won the Oscar for Best Actress for Everything Everywhere All at Once, at the ceremony held in 2023. Wikipedia also lists a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for the same film, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, announced in May 2024.
2026
On February 18, 2026, she received her Hollywood Walk of Fame star, with directors Ang Lee and Jon M. Chu attending, according to NBC Los Angeles. In Blade Runner 2099, which arrives on Prime Video with all eight episodes on November 25, she plays Olwen, a Replicant near the end of her life, according to Nerdtropolis.
