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Michelle Yeoh was born Yeoh Choo Kheng, 6 Aug 1962, in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. She is the daughter of Yeoh Kian Teik and Janet Yeoh. Her father was a lawyer and politician of Han Chinese (Hokkien) descent.
Michelle was a ballet dancer from the age of four, and as a teenager moved to London, England to study at the Royal Academy where she earned a bachelor's degree in Dance. After a brief dance career, she won the Miss Malaysia 1983 beauty pageant title.
In 1984, she appeared in her first television commercial, alongside martial arts star Jackie Chan. In 1985, she began making action movies with D&B Films of Hong Kong, where she became known as the "queen of martial arts". She was first billed as Michelle Khan, then later as Michelle Yeoh.
In 1988, she married wealthy D&B Films executive Dickson Poon and retired from acting. They divorced in 1992. She has been in a relationship Jean Todt, President of Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile, since 2004.
In 1993, she released a single CD, "Love Quite Like a Comet", from her movie Butterfly and Sword (1993).
When she returned to acting, she became known to western audiences through her co-starring roles in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) and in Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000).
In 2022, she starred in the science fiction surreal comedy film Everything Everywhere All at Once earning her a Golden Globe, a Screen Actors Guild Award, an Independent Spirit Award, a BAFTA nomination, and a Critics' Choice Awards nomination. She also became the first Malaysian to be nominated for an Academy Award, and the first Asian and second "woman of color" to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.
In 2001, she was given the title of "dato'" (somewhat like an English knighthood) by the Sultan of Perak, her native state. In October 2007, was named a Chevalier of the French Legion d'Honneur, for her contributions to international culture.
This week's featured connections are Baseball Legends: Michelle is 42 degrees from Willie Mays, 33 degrees from Ernie Banks, 28 degrees from Ty Cobb, 27 degrees from Bob Feller, 30 degrees from Lou Gehrig, 42 degrees from Josh Gibson, 27 degrees from Joe Jackson, 33 degrees from Ferguson Jenkins, 32 degrees from Mamie Livingston, 24 degrees from Mickey Mantle, 27 degrees from Tris Speaker and 30 degrees from Helen St. Aubin on our single family tree. Login to see how you relate to 33 million family members.