Michelle Yeoh Becomes The First Malaysian To Be Nominated For Best Actress At The Oscars
Yeoh has also made history as the first woman of Asian descent to be nominated in the category.
By Wayne Garreth — 25 Jan 2023, 09:41 AM
Michelle Yeoh has been nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role at this year's Academy Awards
The announcement comes just hours ago on Tuesday, 24 January, where actors Riz Ahmed and Alison Williams hosted a livestream event at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills, revealing all the nominations for the upcoming ceremony.
60-year-old Yeoh received the nomination for her climactic role in the sci-fi flick, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022). In the acclaimed film, Yeoh portrayed a laundromat owner by the name of Eleanor Wong, who skipped multiverses after an unusual event forces her to experience all her lives within a short span of time.
Up against a pool of highly talented actresses, Yeoh was revealed to be nominated alongside Ana De Armas in Blonde (2022), Andrea Risenborough in To Leslie (2022), Michelle Williams in The Fablemans (2022), and two-time Oscar winner, Cate Blanchett, in Tar (2022).
Yeoh also made history as the first actress of Asian descent to ever be nominated in the category of Best Actress in a Leading Role for The Academy's 95-year tenure
Garnering profound buzz, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) also cleared multiple categories in the announcement, receiving 11 nominations in total.
Among them include Yeoh's on-screen husband, Ke Huy Quan, receiving a nomination for Best Supporting Actor. Stephanie Hsu, who played Yeoh's on-screen daughter, and Jamie Lee Curtis both received nominations for Best Supporting Actress as well.
Directors of the film, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, received nominations for Best Director, while the flick itself was nominated for Best Picture. Other categories where the film scored a nomination also included Best Original Screenplay, Best Original Score, Best Original Song, Best Costume Design, as well as Best Film Editing.
Yeoh and her on-screen husband in 'Everything Everywhere All at Once' (2023), Ke Huy Quan.
Image via South China Morning Post/InvasionCurrently, Yeoh is also nominated for Best Actress at the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) and the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG)
Earlier this month, the actress managed to snag a Golden Globe in the same role for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical category, becoming the first Malaysian to pull it off in that list as well.
However, this is not the first time a Malaysian has received high praise at the Academy Awards. In 2020, two Malaysian-born producers based in the US had their short film, St Louis Superman, nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject.
Nevertheless, Yeoh's potential win would be a monumental accomplishment on a global scale for Asians around the world.
The 95th Academy Awards will be held on 12 March at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles.
Hosted by Jimmy Kimmel, will you be watching to see if Michelle Yeoh can pull out a Hollywood win for Malaysia?
Watch a full recap of the nominations on The Academy's Twitter page below:
