Michelle Yeoh won the Oscar for best actress for ‘Everything Everywhere All at Once’ at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles. She became the first woman of Asian descent to win the award.
Yeoh, who achieved the award for her acclaimed performance in “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” has also joined the history books for becoming the first Malaysian-born performer to be honored with a best actress Oscar.
She is the fifth person of Asian descent to win an Oscar in the acting category and the first to win in the lead acting category.
For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof to dream big and dreams do come true. Ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you’re ever past your prime.”
Yeoh enthused while accepting her Oscar.
Yeoh devoted her Oscar to her mother, and “all the moms in the world because they truly are the superheroes and without them none of us would be here tonight.”
In “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Yeoh pictured Evelyn Wang, a beleaguered Asian American immigrant who handles a laundromat and is confronted with the staggering potential of endless possible lives as part of the multiverse. As she helms this bizarre new terrain and achieves amazing new abilities, she must come to terms with splits within her family that eventually pose a serious existential threat, all while also encountering a tax audit.
It’s taken a long time. But I think this is more than me. Asians are walking up to me saying, ‘You can do it, you’re doing it for us.’ It’s like, ‘I understand. I understand.’ All this time, they’ve not been recognized, they’ve not been heard.”
Yeoh told The Hollywood Reporter
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” also stars Ke Huy Quan and Jamie Lee Curtis, who both won in their individual supporting acting categories on Sunday night.
In total, the movie won seven Academy Awards out of 11 nominations, including best picture. Among its further wins, “Everything Everywhere” nailed best original screenplay and best director for the duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.