Michelle Yeoh is officially the first Malaysian actress AND Asian to be nominated for ‘Best Actress’ at this year’s Academy Awards.
The Malaysian pride this month is at an all time high.
The announcement comes just hours after actors Riz Ahmed and Alison Williams hosted a livestream event at the Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills on Tuesday, 24 January, revealing all of the nominations for the upcoming ceremony.
Yeoh, 60, was nominated for her pivotal performance in the science fiction film Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022). In the critically acclaimed film, Yeoh played Eleanor Wong, a laundrette owner who skips multiverses after an unusual event forces her to experience all of her life in a short period of time.
Yeoh was announced to be nominated alongside Ana De Armas in Blonde (2022), Andrea Risenborough in To Leslie (2022), Michelle Williams in The Fablemans (2022), and two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett in Tar (2022).
Everything Everywhere All At Once (2022) also received multiple nominations in the announcement, garnering a lot of attention.
Yeoh is currently nominated for Best Actress at both the British Academy Film Awards (BAFTA) and the Screen Actors Guild Awards (SAG)
Earlier this month, the actress won a Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Comedy or Musical for the same role, becoming the first Malaysian to do so.
This is not, however, the first time a Malaysian has received acclaim at the Academy Awards. St Louis Superman, a short film by two Malaysian-born producers based in the United States, was nominated for Best Documentary Short Subject in 2020.
Nevertheless, Yeoh’s victory would represent a tremendous victory for Asians everywhere.
Malaysians can support her by catching the awards show on March 12!
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