Michelle Yeoh

  Michelle Yeoh Bio

Michelle Yeoh was born to an ethnic Chinese family in Ipoh, Malaysia on August 6, 1962. She was very sporty when she was young and had a passion in dance. She started to study ballet at the age of four years old. At the age 15, her parents accompanied her to England and enrolled her at a boarding school there. Later Yeoh entered London Royal Academy of Dance, majoring in Ballet. But a spinal injury ended her dream of being a prima ballerina, and she consequently had to switch her focus away from dance to choreography and other arts. She later received a B.A. degree in Creative Arts with a minor in Drama.

It was at the age of 21 when Yeoh became the winner of the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant in 1983. She was also Malaysia's representative at the 1983 Miss World pageant in London. From there, she appeared in a television commercial with Jackie Chan which caught the attention of a fledgling film production company called D&B Films.

Michelle Yeoh's career in Hong Kong started with a few commercials for Charles Jourdan, opposite action movie heroes Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-Fat before being offered a film contract. The Charles Jourdan brand was handled by D&B Group in Hong Kong, run by Yeoh's future husband, Dickson Poon. In 1988, she retired after marrying Poon. Three years later, the couple divorced, and Yeoh returned to acting in 1992. Her first movie after the comeback was Police Story 3, which was partly shot in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Ascension to fame
Michelle Yeoh started her film career acting in action and martial arts movies such as The Heroic Trio in 1993, and the Yuen Woo-ping films Tai Chi Master and Wing Chun in 1994. Yeoh has had no formal martial arts training and she relies on her dance training and instructors, and does many of her own stunts.

Michelle Yeoh learned English and Malay before Cantonese, and cannot read Chinese characters. As she does not speak Mandarin, she learned the lines for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon phonetically.

Like many other Hong Kong stars, Yeoh has attempted to break into Hollywood. She starred in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies as Wai Lin (1997) and the popular Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). Thereafter, she was offered the role of Seraph in the two sequels to The Matrix, and she could not accept due to a scheduling conflict (the Matrix writers then changed Seraph into a male character and cast Collin Chou in the role). In 2002, she produced her first English movie, The Touch through her own production company, Mythical Films.

In 2005, Michelle Yeoh starred as the graceful Mameha in the film adapation of Memoirs of a Geisha, and she continued her English-language work in 2007 with Sunshine.

Private Life
Michelle Yeoh was previously married to Hong Kong businessman Dickson Poon.

She is dating French CEO of Scuderia Ferrari, Jean Todt. Rumors spread by the Asian press about an upcoming marriage but has been denied several times by Yeoh.

Awards
On April 19, 2001, Michelle Yeoh was awarded the Darjah Datuk Paduka Mahkota Perak (DPMP), which carries the title Dato' by Sultan Azlan Shah, the Sultan of Perak, her home state, in recognition of the fame she brought to the state[3]. The award was given in conjunction with the Sultan's 73rd birthday celebrations. Dato is an honorary Malaysian title somewhat like a British knighthood, and it lies below the ranks of Dato' Seri, Tan Sri and Tun.

On November 25, 2002, Michelle Yeoh was honored as The Outstanding Young Persons of the World (TOYP) (Cultural Achievement) by JCI (Junior Chamber International).

On 23 April 2007 President Jacques Chirac awarded her Knight of the Legion of Honour of France. The decoration was presented to her in a ceremony in Kuala Lumpur on 3 October 2007.