Michelle Yeoh, who last month became the first Asian American woman to win an Oscar, says she is searching for new challenges, including working as a producer.
For her role as the owner of a laundromat in Everything Everywhere All at Once, she became the first Asian to receive the Academy Award for best actress. Seven prizes in all, including best picture, were given to the film.
Yeoh, who was travelling back to her native Malaysia to honour her mother’s birthday, claimed that winning the prize made her feel relieved.
“It was a roller coaster ride that started last year when the movie first came out. It was a whole year of not knowing, wanting, hoping, wishing,” she mentioned in a press statement. “During the journey, everyone was asking, ‘Do you want the Oscar?’ I said, hell, yes, of course I want the Oscar. Who doesn’t? I am not going to beat around the bush and say no because it represents so much to so many of us.”
“It shows us it can be done and all of you can do it,” she averred.
Yeoh, who was travelling back to her native Malaysia to honour her mother’s birthday, claimed that winning the prize made her feel relieved, “forward thinking filmmakers to fight for what I truly believe in — representation, diversity, especially empowerment of women.”
“Directors have no life. I love my life too much. I love producing. I have produced before and now I can start to do so again … now I am able to branch out more because people have started to listen, and appreciate what you can bring forward. As an actor, I love what I can do. I am so lucky to be able to say it’s not a job, it’s really a passion.”
“I am always looking for a challenge,” Yeoh averred. “I believe there is so much to do in our part of the world. All of us collectively. Don’t isolate yourself. Don’t feel that I must always tell my story. We are collaborators, we are storytellers. Let’s work together and do great things.”
