Michelle Yeoh Wins Best Actress: "Dreams Do Come True"
After 95 years, an Asian woman has won Best Actress at the Academy Awards: Michelle Yeoh took home the award this year.
An emotional Michelle Yeoh accepted the trophy, saying "Dreams do come true."
After her name was announced, she was enveloped in hugs by her partner, Jean Todt, and her castmates, including Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan, who won earlier in the night.
She won for her performance as Evelyn Wang in the multiverse film Everything Everywhere All at Once. The role, she told Town & Country in our September 2022 cover story, is "not about me." She continued, "This story is about many people—mothers, aunties, women out there who walk by you in the supermarket unnoticed. They never have a voice. They’re never the superheroes."
Before tonight, the historic nature of her nomination was celebrated by the global Asian community. "It’s taken a long time. But I think this is more than me," Yeoh told The Hollywood Reporter about the historic nature of her nomination ahead of the ceremony. "At the present moment, constantly, all the time, having Asians walking up to me saying, 'You can do it, you’re doing it for us.' It’s like, 'I understand. I totally understand.' All this time, they’ve not been recognized, they’ve not been heard."
Yeoh was technically the second Asian woman ever nominated for Best Actress; in 1936, Merle Oberon was nominated for her role in The Dark Angel. However, Oberon hid her Sri Lankan ancestry and passed for white.
Read Michelle Yeoh's full acceptance speech:
Thank you. Thank you. For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight—this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dreams, dream big, and dreams do come true. And ladies, don't let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up!
I wouldn't be standing here tonight without the Daniels, A24, my amazing cast and crew, without everyone who was involved with Everything Everywhere All at Once.
I have to dedicate this to my mom, all the moms in the world, because they are really the superheroes. And without them, none of us would be here tonight.
She's 84, and I'm taking this home to her — she's watching right now, in Malaysia
Also to my extended family in Hong Kong where I started my career, thank you for letting me stand on your shoulders,
Thank you to the Academy! This is history in the making!
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