Michelle Yeoh is the star of this year's award season. The Everything Everywhere All at Once cast member is the favorite to win the Best Actress Oscar, after clinching Golden Globe, the Screen Actors Guild and Hollywood Critics Association trophies.
Yeoh, in an interview with People magazine, described how she has been inspired by films from the world over, including India.
The 60-year-old, who is from Malaysia, detailed the myriad cultural experiences that shaped her.
"I grew up with Malays, the Indians and the Chinese," she told the magazine. "I grew up watching movies from India, from Europe, from foreign countries like America, and Chinese movies."
Yeoh said she loved the magnificence of cinema, but never dreamed of acting herself.
However, she went on to participate in beauty pageants and act in TV commercials, and was eventually offered film roles in Hong Kong.
From there, she moved to Hollywood, making her debut with Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997.
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The transition could not have been easy.
"I was told 'you are a minority'", Yeoh said. "They didn't make a difference between whether I was Chinese or Japanese or Korean or if I even spoke English."
That didn't stop Yeoh from blazing a trail.
In 2000, she starred in Life of Pi director Ang Lee's film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The globally successful film earned her a BAFTA nomination for best leading actress.
In 2023, she is on her way to make history. Yeoh could become the first ever Asian woman to win the Best Actress Oscar at the 95th Academy Awards on March 13 (India time).
Her film 'Everything, Everywhere', sci-fi adventure story about a Chinese-American family, is the most-nominated film this year with 11 nods.
They won almost all awards at the Screen Actors Guild Awards this week, including the top honour of best cast in a motion picture.
Cast member James Hong received a huge ovation when he spoke about how far Asian actors had come in the American film industry.
He said once, Hollywood taped up white actors' eyes to make them look Asian because producers thought "Asians are not good enough and they are not box office."
"But look at us now, huh?" Hong added.
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