The UK's leading film critics have announced that actress, producer and
UNDP Goodwill Ambassador Michelle Yeoh will receive their top honour, the Dilys
Powell Award for Excellence in Film, at the 43rd London Critics' Circle Film
Awards ceremony on 5 February.
"Michelle Yeoh has been a favourite of the London critics from her
earliest Hong Kong outings, even before she teamed up with James Bond in Tomorrow
Never Dies," said Rich Cline, Chair of the Critics' Circle Film
Section. "And we named her blockbuster fantasy Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon the Foreign-Language Film of the Year 2000. We are
delighted to give the Dilys Powell award to such a wonderful icon. She has a
unique ability to combine take-no-prisoners action, wry humour and deeper
emotional resonance in her roles."
Yeoh has received critical acclaim for her portrayal of Evelyn Wang, a mother
discovering her identity in the multiverse, in the multi-Oscar and
Bafta-nominated Everything Everywhere All at Once. She won the
Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Drama, and also earned her first Oscar nomination,
a second Bafta nomination, SAG nomination and Critics Choice nomination for the
role.
Born in Ipoh, Malaysia, Yeoh studied ballet from the age of 4 and moved to
London to study at the Royal Academy as a teen. When an injury ended her career
in dance, Yeoh went on to earn a BA in creative arts, minoring in drama, in
1982. Known as Michelle Khan in her early films, she achieved fame in the 1990s
with starring roles in Hong Kong action films such as Yes, Madam (1985), In
the Line of Duty (1986) and Police Story 3: Supercop (1992),
in which she also performed her own stunts.
Following her international breakout
with Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and Ang Lee's Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Yeoh wrote the story for The
Touch (2002) and built her undeniable presence with roles in Memoirs
of a Geisha (2005), Danny Boyle's Sunshine (2007)
and Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011).
More recently, she brought star power to supporting roles in romantic comedies Crazy Rich Asians (2018) and Last Christmas (2019), and she took on the Marvel Cinematic Universe in both Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol 2 (2017) and Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings (2021). Meanwhile on TV, Yeoh’s recurring roles in The Witcher: Blood Origin and Star Trek: Discovery has made her a favourite of fantasy and science-fiction fans.
Yeoh is currently in pre-production on Jon M Chu’s Wicked as
Madame Morrible, and she recently wrapped production on Kenneth Branagh’s A
Haunting in Venice. Upcoming this year, she will star in American
Born Chinese and The Brothers Sun.
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