Everything Everywhere All At Once star Michelle Yeoh has just made history by being the first Asian to win Best Actress at the Academy Awards.
The 60-year-old is also the first Malaysian to be nominated and win the Academy Awards.
The Ipoh-born actress won the coveted acting award ahead of Cate Blanchett, an Australian actress and two-time Oscar winner who was thought to be her closest rival. Ana De Armas, Michelle Williams, and Andrea Riseborough were also nominated for Best Actress.
“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,” she said in her acceptance speech. “And ladies, don’t let anyone ever tell you you’re past your prime.”
Yeoh also thanked her 84-year-old mother who she said was watching the awards live with family and said, “I’m bringing this home.”
Everything Everywhere All At Once may be a visually stunning sci-fi film but the complicated and tender mother-daughter relationship between Yeoh’s character Evelyn Wang and Joy was central to the story.
In her speech, Yeoh also said that all the mothers in the world “are really the superheroes, and without them, none of us would be here tonight.”
It was a triumphant night for Everything Everywhere All At Once as the film won the awards for best picture, director, editing, original screenplay, supporting actress and supporting actor.
Among the awards Yeoh won in the past couple of months include the Golden Globes, Screen Actors Guild and the Independent Spirit Awards.
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