After approximately 40 years in the industry, Michelle Yeoh, 60, has won her first Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Co-directed and co-written by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert (collectively known as the Daniels), the adventure/science fiction film tells the story of an unlikely hero, Evelyn Quan Wang (Yeoh), who finds herself fighting creatures in an alternate universe.
During her speech, Yeoh spoke about how she thought she’d be living the dream when she moved to the United States to pursue her acting career, only to face discrimination. While reflecting on how far she’s since come, referring to Everything Everywhere All at Once as “the best gift,” music started to play, signaling for Yeoh to leave the stage.
“Shut up please,” Yeoh snapped. “I can beat you up, okay? And that’s serious.”
Yeoh then went ahead and spent another minute and a half finishing her speech.
The Hollywood Foreign Press Association first awarded the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical as a separate category in 1951; previously, it awarded it as a single award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture. Lesley Manville (Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris), Margot Robbie (Babylon), Anya Taylor-Joy (The Menu), Emma Thompson (Good Luck to You, Leo Grande), and Michelle Yeoh (Everything Everywhere All at Once) were nominated this year.
However, since the nominees were announced, many critics have guessed that Yeoh would take home the Golden Globe for playing Evelyn in the film. Her work in Everything Everywhere All at Once was emotional and career-best work.
Michelle Yeoh Says Anti-Asian Sentiment Stalled Her Career
The first Malaysian Chinese actress to be nominated for Best Actress for Comedy or Musical, Michelle Yeoh, named by Time Magazine as one of the world’s 100 most influential people and “Icon of the Year” in 2022, got her first Golden Globe nomination after 40 years in the industry with her performance in the science fiction film Everything Everywhere All at Once. In the film, Yeoh plays Evelyn, an overwhelmed mother and dissatisfied laundromat owner navigating the multiverse in the absurdist comedy. The role was originally conceived by the Daniels for Jackie Chan but was later reworked and offered to Yeoh, according to the Golden Globes official website.
In an episode of Variety’s Actors on Actors, Yeoh told Cate Blanchett that she told the filmmakers that she would not do the film if they did not change the name of her character. She said, “The only thing I said to them was, ‘The character cannot be called Michelle Wang.’ They’re like, ‘But why? It’s so you.’ I’m like, ‘No, I’m not an Asian immigrant mother who’s running a laundromat. She needs her own voice.’ That was the only thing. I’m like, ‘If you don’t change the name, I’m not coming in.’”
