Michelle Yeoh Biography
Biography
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Michelle Yeoh began ballet dancing at the age of four.
Inspired by the movie, Fame (1980), she enrolled in England's
Royal Academy of Dance, where she eventually earned a Bachelor
of Art degree in dancing. Michelle also excelled in athletic
events. During her teenage years, Michelle Yeoh enjoyed playing
squash and was also a national competitor in swimming and
diving. Yeoh was quite ambitious and was determined to gain a
master's in dancing. While she was living in England, Michelle
Yeohexplored contemporary, jazz and ballet dancing. Michelle's
dream of being a prima ballerina was abruptly cut short by a
spinal injury which she suffered during a ballet practicing
session at her college years. The doctor she consulted announced
that a rotated disk in her spine would not be able to stand the
daily intensive ballet workout. Michelle consequently had to
switch her focus away from dance to choreography and other arts.
Sadly, Michelle never did get a chance to perform ballet
professionally on stage. Instead, she alternately set her sights
on running her own school to teach ballet.
In 1983, Michelle Yeoh returned to her home country, Malaysia.
It was at the age of 21 when Yeoh became the winner of the Miss
Malaysia beauty pageant in 1983. From there, Yeoh 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 in modeling, where
she appeared in a series of commercials for Charles Jourdan,
opposite action movie heroes Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-Fat. The
Charles Jourdan brand was handled by D&B Group in Hong Kong, and
this is how Michelle Yeoh met her future husband, Dickson Poon.
In 1988, she retired after marrying prominent Hong Kong tycoon,
Dickson Poon of D&B Films. Three years later, the couple
divorced, and Michelle Yeoh returned to acting in 1992. Her
first movie after the comeback was Police Story 3, which was
partly shot in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Despite having no formal martial arts training, Yeoh is best
known for her roles in action and martial arts movies (notably
The Heroic Trio in 1993, and the Yuen Woo-ping films The Tai-Chi
Master and Wing Chun in 1994). Michelle relies on her dance
training and instructors, and does many of her own stunts. She
is one of the few women Jackie Chan allows to do her own stunts
in his movies; they first worked together on a commercial in
1984.
Michelle Yeoh learned English and Malay before Chinese
(Cantonese dialect), and still cannot read Chinese. In some of
her early films, she recited her dialogue by rote.
Like many other Hong Kong stars, Michelle Yeoh has attempted to
break into Hollywood. Despite starring in the James Bond film
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) --garnering considerable praise as
one of the genre's most popular Bond Girls-- and the popular
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), which also starred
Zhang Ziyi, she has not won a mainstream audience in the
English-speaking world as of yet. She could have gained that
audience had she accepted the role of Seraph in the two Matrix
sequels, but due to a scheduling conflict she was unable to
accept them, so the Matrix writers changed Seraph into a male
character and cast Colin Chou in the role. In 2002, she produced
her first English movie, The Touch through her own production
company, Mythical Films.
In early 2005, Michelle Yeoh finished the shooting of Memoirs of
a Geisha, a Hollywood produced ensemble drama based on a story
of Japanese geisha. The film was released on December 9, 2005.
In December 2004, Ferrari Formula One team principal Jean Todt
announced his engagement to Yeoh at a news conference. "I
proposed to her and we are now engaged," said the 58 year old
Todt. However, a day later, Yeoh denied the engagement. During a
phone interview with Chinese-language newspaper Oriental Daily
News, Michelle Yeoh was asked about the engagement and she
exclaimed, "What? How did that come about? I did not know about
it?" When asked whether Todt had asked her to marry him, she
said, "No, I have a lot of responsibilities and I've got a lot
of work and projects to do. I think I'll get them done first."
The marriage rumors began circulating when Yeoh brought Todt
home to visit with her family in December 2004. "This is the
first time I have brought Todt to see my parents. Everybody
seems to like him and he has been accepted by family members,
but we have not talked about marriage just yet," she said. When
questioned about the beautiful blue diamond ring that she was
wearing, she said it was not an engagement ring but just a
present from Todt. Michelle stated that she was happy with the
relationship as it was and that she would "inform everyone if
she got married in the future." Todt and Yeoh met in June 2004
in a promotional event organized by Ferrari in Shanghai, China.
They were introduced by Yeoh's former beau of four years, Hong
Kong movie producer, Thomas Chung.
In 2001, Yeoh was given the title of Dato' by the Sultan of
Perak, her home state. Dato is an honorary Malaysian title
somewhat like a British knighthood, and it lies below the ranks
of Dato' Seri, Tan Sri and Tun.
Film List
- Untitled Sunshine Project (2006)
- Memoirs of a Geisha as Mameha (2005)
- Silverhawk (2004)
- The Touch (2002)
- Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
- Moonlight Express (1999)
- Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
- The Soong Sisters (1997)
- The Stunt Woman (1996)
- Wonder Seven (1994)
- Shaolin Popey 2 - Messy Temple (1994)
- The Tai-Chi Master (1994)
- Wing Chun (1994)
- Once a Cop (1993)
- Holy Weapon (1993)
- Executioners (1993)
- Butterfly and Sword (1993)
- The Heroic Trio (1993)
- Supercop - Police Story III (1992)
- Easy Money (1987)
- Magnificent Warriors (1987)
- In the Line of Duty (1986)
- My Lucky Stars 2 - Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985) Yes, Madam (1985)
- The Owl and Bumbo (1984)
This Michelle Yeoh Biography Page is Copyright The Planets © 2004 - 2006 Chuck Ayoub