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The title in itself is a bold statement, but since I have seen the Malaysian born actresses’ famous movies, I can’t shake the feeling that this actress has been robbed of a stardom, similar to her other costars. However, Michelle Yeoh isn’t a name, which doesn’t tickle anyone’s brain, who loves martial arts or is a fan of 90s movies from Hongkong. Early on, in 1983, Michelle won the Miss Malaysia World and following her first commercial advertisement jobs, she caught the attention of Hongkong filmmakers. Already in her third contract for Yes, Madam (1985) she was placed in a main role and gave way to female actors standing off against bad guys. Which lead to cult classics as such Quentin Tarantino’s movie sage Kill Bill. 

And then came the interruption, which could have been the end to a promising career. Her marriage to Dickson Poon, Head of the D&B Group. Four years later, she ended her stay-at-home role and divorced the businessman. 

Her big comeback was with Police Story 3: Super Cop (1992), alongside Jackie Chan, who had been crossing paths with her since the begin of her career. It was this movie, which wrote her legacy as one of the few female actresses, who did all of their stunts in movies. She and Jackie Chan made leeway to more Buddy cop movies and led to the successful Rush Hour saga. During the filming Chan and Yeoh were fighting for the role, who would be credited with the most stuns. Chan hanging from a flying helicopter. Yeoh riding a dirt bike and jumping with it on the roof of a moving van. Hanging from the side of the truck and almost getting killed during the stunt, when she was supposed to jump on the hood of Chan’s vehicle and slid off because of a faulty prop. Later, in an interview to the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) she told the press, looking back she is shocked what she was doing back then. Jackie Chan wanted to end the stunt right then and there, said it was enough and she shouldn’t risk her life, but she retorted that he was the one always doing his own stunts, and so she had to do the same. And maybe even do more. 

Michelle added in the, before mentioned, interview that back then, there weren’t weeks’ time for preparation. The stunts were explained and done on set. And when failed, then they would jump back up and get it on the next take. The mentality she was proving must have been the reason for her unshaken force, with which she crossed borders and started acting in Hollywood movies. 

It was the point in her career when she changed her last name to Yeoh, and was one of the first “Bond Girls”, who were doing stunts and fighting sequences without a double. Her movies ranged from Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) alongside Pierce Brosnan, who praised her in later interviews, credited her work ethic and called her a “female James Bond”. She starred in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), for which she had to learn Mandarin, and then played the role of Mameha in the book adaptation Memories of a Geisha (2005). She had notable roles in Sunshine (2007), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) and more. 

But all along her trademark were the martial arts’ movies, in which Michelle Yeoh dazzled the audience with her ability to wield any weapon, better than her costars and proved herself over and over again, as the talented actress she is and was. For most people it would always come as a surprise fact, when she had to reveal that Yeoh wasn’t originally trained in any form of martial art, but because of her background in ballet she was flexible and had stamina. 

Since 2015, Yeoh branched out into Television. She became a fan favorite in Star Trek: Discovery and was even promised an own spin off series for her role. And then came a notable change in franchises. From sword wielding fighter, Yeoh was suddenly diving into “calmer” roles. Her face was seen in the book adaptation Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Last Christmas (2019). But what was missing from her former years in combat scenes, she substituted in charisma. Which didn’t come short. With layered emotions she overshadowed some of the main character’s performances and made the movie very memorable for me. Especially, because I was suddenly confronted with a different Yeoh than I had been used from her former movies. Some told me that it was “natural” that the actress was doing “slower” roles from now on. Since she had reached a certain age. 

This comment ticked something off inside me. The question and discussion about age. Which loved to come up at the edge of 40 upwards. But only around female actresses. Since apparently it was normal for male stars to continue wield guns and run from exploding bombs. But the women amongst the business should rethink their abilities. 

Throughout her career Michelle Yeoh was side by side with Jackie Chan, who still hasn’t slowed down with his action scenes, while Yeoh had been argued to be “too old” for such roles. This opened up my own internal conflict. 

Why are women in the action genre not as popular as men? 

Because many people were ignoring the less known movies of Michelle, as she was also starring in Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2018), Shang Chi (2021) or the reprice of the hit movie Crouching Tiger, 

Hidden Dragon in 2016. If not mentioned some might forget that Michelle never stopped the action genre entirely, just had less prominent reviews or was just stumped off as the less-good version of her past roles. All while Jackie Chan was getting raging comments about his continuous action movie career. 

For me it felt like Michelle had to proof herself all over again. As if none of her roles in past movies had been confirmation enough to tell the audience that she was good. As good as all her male costars. 

But all of these opinions quieted down, when Michelle Yeoh won her first Oscar for Best Actress for the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once/EEAAO (2022). She was executive producer and the main character of the absurdist comedy-drama movie. Originally Jackie Chan had been wanted to play the role, but when it was changed to a female part and Yeoh took the project on it became something more of an interwoven tale of philosophical elements of existentialism, nihilism and absurdism. Yeoh made the movie a retelling of her own life’s work. The woman, who could have had an amazing career, fame, and be true to herself. But stuck in an unhappy life, a non-loving marriage and living with generational trauma. And when Yeoh dived into comical fight scenes shown the experience of decades worth of martial arts experience through. 

Some newer fans were surprised over her performance, I saw it as an excellent opportunity to roll up my sleeves and get my own discussion on foot once more. Because with this movie the scene in the Hollywood industry began to change. Suddenly, the underdogs were standing on stage and were getting the big awards. Michelle Yeoh was the first ever Malaysian born actress/actor who had ever won this award and her costar Ke Huy Quan won Best Supporting Actor. A first for him too. And the movie was still not finished. It received four more Oscars and two Golden Globes. It can be credited as an entire success and has brought more attention towards movies from Asia, since the highly decorated thriller Parasite (2019). 

The change in the movie industry has been slow, but steady. Over the last few years more drama series from Korea and Japan have found a huge audience in the international scene and with the overwhelming success of EEAAO people began to talk more about wanting to see diversity in storylines and step away from clichés. 

But it isn’t entirely true that there hadn’t been no diversity before, however, it was a reminder that there is a hunger for more complex storylines to exist in global productions, which are screened in the cinemas. And this motion makes me worried too. 

Hollywood has done “diverse” productions before but has failed tremendously at recreating the magic from the original works. The Great Wall (2016) is the perfect example of trying to dabble in the foreign market, use Chinese history and transform it in something supernatural and replace famous figures with known names from the U.S. Even though it was a movie with earnings of over 300 Million Dollars in the box office it was a bad rendition towards a landmark named one of the seven wonders of the world. 

The want for better and deeper storylines is there. And the cry for more female representation in the action genre is becoming louder. 

The argument of Michelle Yeoh having become too old for such movies was revisited with her being 60 and still doing all of her own stunts. While all her male costars have been earning praise through out their own projects. The difference in treatment between male and female action stars has been an apparent topic and talked about numerous times. However, now I think it has reached a point in which should be looked upon how age isn’t a factor when an actor or actress should be stopped from pursuing what they are good at doing or have gender define what is possible and what not. 

I had been very delighted to see Yeoh win her Oscar, but it made me sad too. This award came so late, all while she had so many (not mentioned in this article) high crossing movies and roles, which should have been reason enough to give her the credit she deserves. In hindsight, Jackie Chan won a lifetime achievement Oscar in 2016 for his over 200 movies and was praised for his undying energy to create more. It was an honorary Oscar but overshadowed by the pronounced number of male nominees and the need to have selected a few actors for diversity purposes. 

A comparison between Jackie Chan and Michelle Yeoh seems silly, but it makes me rethink a lot how the lives of each actor could have gone. Chan would have married and continued to work, because it was not expected for him to stop. But Yeoh had said that for her marriage had entailed that she should stay at home and focus solely on the family. The end to a career which had only begun. And an eye opener at the difference between gender in the same profession from similar backgrounds. 

So, is it this weird to still think that women are not preferred in action movies? And should Asian movies make a break for it before Hollywood can transform this industry into mediocre production too? 

Looking back at what Michelle Yeoh has achieved is remarkable. On the other hand, it is inspiring to want to work in a genre for which she had no previous training, but with backbone, the right mindset and endurance wonders, and glory can be achieved. For me, Michelle Yeoh will always be an inspiration and keep on giving me motivation to not be defined by stereotypical roles. A reminder that everyone can run astray, but anyone can decide that past decisions shouldn’t be dwelled on and continue working in whichever field they want, ignoring the voices that call for an aged order and tradition.

Bv Laura Hartmann