Michelle Yeoh has made history by becoming the first Asian to Asian to win a best actress trophy at the Academy Awards for playing Evelyn Wang in the sci-fi comedy film Everything Everywhere All At Once.
She said in her acceptance speech: “I have to dedicate this to my mom and all the moms in the world because they are really the superheroes and without them none of us would be here tonight“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibility. This is proof that dreams dream big and dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anyone tell you you are ever past your prime.”
Several of her fellow cast mates were also nominated for Oscars. Ke Huy Quan picked up the Oscar for best supporting actor, and Jamie Lee Curtis beat fellow cast member Stephanie Hsu to win best supporting actress.
Everything Everywhere entered the Oscars race this year with a leading 11 nominations and swept seven awards in all, including best picture, best director, best film editing and best original screenplay.
In the movie, Yeoh plays an exasperated Chinese immigrant laundromat owner struggling to finish her taxes. She edged out nominees Ana De Armas (Blonde), Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie), Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans) and fellow frontrunner Cate Blanchett (Tar) for the award.
