Xuenou > Movies > Michelle Yeoh Revealed Why She Didn’t Work For Two Years, And The Reason Is Absolutely Infuriating
Michelle Yeoh Revealed Why She Didn’t Work For Two Years, And The Reason Is Absolutely Infuriating
Michelle Yeoh Revealed Why She Didn’t Work For Two Years, And The Reason Is Absolutely Infuriating,"When I first came to Hollywood, I was a little taken aback to be told, 'first of all, you're a minority.'"

Michelle Yeoh Revealed Why She Didn’t Work For Two Years, And The Reason Is Absolutely Infuriating

I’m sure you heard of Michelle Yeoh, the actor who is snagging all the major film awards this year — but the icon is anything but a rookie to the industry.

Dimension Films / ©Dimension Films/Courtesy Everett Collection

Michelle’s crossover brought a welcome change to a tired old, sexist Hollywood trope. “The first movie I did after I came to America was Tomorrow Never Dies with Pierce Brosnan,” she said. “James Bond at that point had only been known as macho, and the girls were just the ones with cutesy names.”

United Artists / ©United Artists/Courtesy Everett Collection

And when it comes to challenging stereotypes, she’s been about this life for some time. When talking about her previous roles in Hong Kong, she said, “We need to be protected, according to our guys. But then I would go, ‘No, guys, I think we can protect ourselves pretty well. And if push comes to shove, maybe I can protect you too.'”

But, in the ’90s, the progress was short-lived and Asian representation in Hollywood had a long way to go. “When I first came to Hollywood, I was a little taken aback to be told, ‘First of all, you’re a minority,'” she said. “At that point, people in the industry couldn’t really tell the difference between whether I was Chinese or Japanese or Korean or if I even spoke English.”

Michael Buckner / Variety via Getty Images

And this ultimately led to Michelle refusing work. “They would talk very loudly and very slow [at me] … I didn’t work for almost two years, until Crouching Tiger [Hidden Dragon], simply because I could not agree with the stereotypical roles that were put forward.”

Neil Mockford / FilmMagic

Over the years, Michelle primarily appeared in supporting roles until Everything Everywhere All At Once.

Now, with an upcoming role as Madam Morrible in the film adaptation of Wicked, the 60-year-old actor is at the top of her game — and still making progress for women of color in Hollywood. “In the past, this role would’ve been for a Caucasian lady,” she said. “This is what we call persity, inclusivity. This is how you make it work. It is a natural process — progress, evolution that we can have as storytellers.”

Mike Marsland / Mike Marsland / WireImage

You seriously kick ass, Michelle Yeoh — literally.

Watch the full cover story from People here.


Charlotte Gomez