Michelle Yeoh has made history as she became the first Asian woman to win the best actress Oscar.
The Hollywood veteran won over Academy voters with her complex take on Evelyn Wang, a Chinese American laundromat owner who is mired in a tax audit, stuck in a crumbling marriage, and struggling to connect with her daughter Joy.
Oh, and she ends up traversing multiple universes to evade a powerful supernatural enemy, who happens to be an iteration of… her daughter.
“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that…. dream big and dreams do come true,” Yeoh said as she accepted the award.
“And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up,” she said to cheers.
Yeoh won top honors over strong performances from Cate Blanchett (“Tar”), Michelle Williams (“The Fabelmans”), Andrea Riseborough (“To Leslie”), and Ana de Armas (“Blonde”).
“Everything,” directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, arrived at Hollywood’s biggest gala at the top of the nominations pile with 11 chances at Oscars glory, including for best picture.
But even amid such a haul, the 60-year-old Yeoh is praise for her portrayal of middle-class immigrant Evelyn, who must navigate life in America as well as a complex multiverse that contains endless variations of her existence.
Yeoh was born to Malaysian-Chinese parents on August 6, 1962, in the city of Ipoh, 200 kilometers (125 miles) north of Malaysia’s capital, Kuala Lumpur.
She embraced dance as a child and specialized in ballet, which she studied in England.