And the Oscar Goes To...Star Trek: Discovery's Michelle Yeoh
Michelle Yeoh as Empress Georgiou in STAR TREK: DISCOVERY. Image: Paramount+.
MARCH 13, 2023 - Last night was the 95th Academy Awards presentation, colloquially referred to as “the Oscars” for reasons which are lost to history. This year’s ceremony was a groundbreaking and emotional one, with Star Trek: Discovery’s Michelle Yeoh winning the Best Actress award for her performance in the mind-bending film Everything Everywhere All At Once.
Yeoh was up against a formidable group of rivals: Cate Blanchett (Tar); Michelle Williams (The Fabelmans); Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie); and Ana de Armas (Blonde). Everything was the big winner of the night, with the Academy not only honoring Yeoh for her performance, but also awarding the film the coveted Best Picture award, not to mention Best Supporting Actor (Ke Huy Quan); Best Supporting Actress (Jamie Lee Curtis); Best Director (Daniel Kwan); Best Original Screenplay (Kwan and Daniel Scheinert; and Best Film Editing (Paul Rogers).
But it was Yeoh’s win that was most notable. In nearly a century of handing out the award, she is the first Asian woman to win in the Best Actress category and only the second woman of color. Fittingly, the award was presented to her by Halle Berry, who was the first, winning for her performance in 2002’s Monster’s Ball.
“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight,” Yeoh said in her acceptance speech, “this is the beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof[…]that dreams do come true.”
Upon announcement that she won, the crowd went wild, with even her rivals enthusiastically applauding her win. When you watch the clip below, keep an eye on de Armas and Riseborough, who both seem genuinely thrilled for Yeoh.
Surprisingly, despite kicking butt in films like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and the James Bond outing Tomorrow Never Dies, not to mention as Empress Georgiou in Star Trek: Discovery, Yeoh has no formal martial arts training.
Michelle Yeoh does seem to be everywhere all at once these days, appearing in four films and a television series in 2022 alone and winning 22 of the 38 awards for which she was nominated, also in 2022. Not only that, but according to Wikipedia, she’s booked through 2026! If the Star Trek bosses still intend to create the long-rumored Section 31 spinoff starring Yeoh, they’d be wise to send her a contract, stat…
T is the Managing Editor for Daily Star Trek News and a contributing writer for Sherlock Holmes Magazine and a Shakespeare nerd. He may have been the last professional Stage Manager to work with Leonard Nimoy, has worked Off-Broadway and regionally, and is the union Stage Manager for Legacy Theatre, where he is currently working with Julie Andrews. after which he’ll be working on Richard III at Elm Shakespeare Company.
