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"Before you get into the mind, you have to inhabit the physicality. Body language is a great way of speaking."  Michelle Yeoh is a Malaysian actress who first found fame as an action star in Hong Kong. Over the years, Yeoh has cultivated a reputation for being one of the most talented action heroines to ever grace the silver screen.

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While Yeoh is most well-known for her work out East, Yeoh has starred in several films that have found major audiences in the United States. Among her most notable credits are Memoirs of a Geisha, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny, and Crazy Rich Asians. As one of the most famous and beautiful people in the world, as voted on by People Magazine, Yeoh certainly has some notable titles next to her name!

Born in Malaysia

Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng was born in Ipoh, Malaysia. Yeoh was born to Janet Yeoh and Yeoh Kian Teik. Janet worked as a homemaker while Yeoh Kian Teik worked as both a politician and a lawyer. Yeoh has ancestry that trails back to Cantonese and Hokkien roots.

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As a child, Yeoh was fascinated with dancing. By the time that Yeoh was four years old, she had already enrolled in ballet classes. When Yeoh turned 15, her parents decided to make a move to the United Kingdom. Once in the U.K., Yeoh enrolled in a private boarding school in order to get back on track with her education. From there she would study at the Royal Academy of Dance in London while majoring in her passion, ballet.

Unfortunately for Yeoh, she would tragically injure her spine before competing as a professional dancer. Unable to compete at a high-level, Yeoh was forced to turn her back on dancing. Instead, Yeoh decided to pay attention to choreography and acting as she minored in Creative Arts. Yeoh would graduate with her B.A. in Creative Arts as well as a minor in Drama.

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International Action Heroine

Michelle Yeoh wouldn't jump straight into a successful acting career. Instead, after graduating from college, Yeoh would win the Miss Malaysia Beauty Pageant in 1983. Yeoh would go on to have a successful pageantry career with wins that included the Miss Moomba crown and Miss World 1983. While on her international pageantry tours, she also gained enough fame to start booking her own work. Yeoh would appear in a commercial with Jackie Chan and that commercial would be her way into acting.

Two years after doing a commercial with Jackie Chan, Yeoh was making her film career debut in Yes, Madam (1985) thanks to the production company known as D&B Group.  Yeoh made a name for herself thanks to her tough attitude, physical prowess, and willingness to perform all of her own stunts. Still, life had other plans for Yeoh. Yeoh would meet Dickson Poon, leader of the D&B Group, and the two would begin to date. Yeoh would 'retire' from acting after getting married to Poon, and she wouldn't appear in another film for nearly five years, following her divorce of Poon.

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Yeoh's official comeback started in 1992 when she appeared in Police Story 3: Super Cop alongside Jackie Chan.  The film put Yeoh back on the map and served as notice that Hong Kong's action star had returned to set. Yeoh would go on to star in The Heroic Trio (1993), Tai Chi Master (1994), and Wing Chun (1994).

Michelle Yeoh would set her sights at the international market after being cast as Wai Lin in the James Bond movie, Tomorrow Never Dies (1997). The film starred Pierce Brosnan as James Bond. Brosnan spoke highly of Yeoh, routinely referring to her as a 'female Bond'.  After Tomorrow Never Dies, Yeoh would wow audiences around the world in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000). The film starred a number of high-level martial artists, and audiences everywhere would flock to the theaters in droves. The film was a success around the world and Yeoh would ear a BAFTA nomination for her work.

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Following Crouching Tiger, Yeoh would continue to vault her way up the ladder to stardom. Yeoh would play Mameha in the Oscar-winning film, Memoirs of a Geisha (2005) before landing roles in hit films like Sunshine (2007) and Kung Fu Panda 2 (2011). Along the way, Yeoh was offered the role of Seraph in both of the Matrix sequels. Unfortunately, Yeoh couldn't accept the part due to a scheduling conflict. This is particularly unfortunate when you see that Yeoh took a role in the maligned, The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (2008) around that same period of time.

Most recently, Yeoh has been immersing herself into Hollywood with less work occurring back East. Yeoh has starred in a number of major productions in recent years. Yeoh starred in Marco Polo (2016) as Lotus, Star Trek: Discovery (2017) as Georgiou,  as well as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon: Sword of Destiny (2016) which also released on Netflix.  Other notable recent films include Crazy Rich Asians (2018), Guardians of the Galaxy: Vol. 2 (2017) and Master Z: Ip Man Legacy (2018). Yeoh is slated to appear in four of James Cameron's Avatar sequels as Dr. Karina Mogue. Almost nothing is known about her character at this time.