After making a name for herself in Hong Kong with movies such as Police Story 3: Supercop, the beloved Southeast Asian icon has managed to circumvent Hollywood’s infamous racial and gender stereotypes in her performances.
It makes for an amazing weekend of pre-Oscars movie bingeing too: Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Tomorrow Never Dies. Crazy Rich Asians. The Lady. Memoirs Of A Geisha. Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings. If you’re looking at TV shows, there’s also Star Trek: Discovery and The Witcher: Blood Origin.
We all know the milestones: The first Asian “Bond girl” in Tomorrow Never Dies, playing the iconic Aung San Suu Kyi in The Lady, being named Time’s Icon of the Year for 2022. But here are other interesting facts you might not know about the girl from Ipoh who literally kicks ass.
SHE JOINED A BEAUTY PAGEANT TO “SHUT HER MOTHER UP”
Did you know Yeoh was crowned Miss Malaysia in 1983? As her country’s representative, she placed 18th out of 72 contestants at the 1983 Miss World pageant in London. That same year, she also travelled to Australia where she won several other pageants, including Miss Moomba International and Queen of the Pacific.