Biography of Michelle Yeoh
 

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Sarojini Naidu

Taslima Nasreen

 

Michelle Yeoh (part-two)

Later she took up ballet and eventually moved to London to study at the Royal Academy of Dance .After a bad back injury, she returned to Malaysia in 1983, with thoughts of running a ballet school. Somewhere along the way, she entered a beauty contest and got crowned Miss Malaysia. Then a friend called her up from Hong Kong to say that businessman Dickson Poon was looking for a new face for a watch commercial which would feature action superstar Jackie Chan.

Her first role was that of a much –bullied social worker in ‘Owl Vs Dumbo’. “It was a very stereotyped female role.” she says. But it was with her second role in ‘Yes Madam ‘that she managed a breakthrough. At that time, the 23-year old Yeoh had no martial skills, when she got to the set, she was surrounded by male crew members who were openly doubtful of her ability to handle the stunts.

But she worked hard and mastered the mastered the moves .Though her first attempts weren’t pretty she says, they proved a point; “So I got a few bumps and brises but the hardest part was earning their respect” 

Then came a slew of movies which never made it big anywhere else except in her native hemisphere. “There is this thinking in Hollywood that goes, she’s Chinese? How do we explain a Chinese face in all of this?” she says.” Fortunately, it ‘s getting so that more.

Asian faces are seen in American Films .When I first came out here, however, it was like going back to Kindergarten . But I thought what have I got to lose? It may be a little humiliating, but that` s good for the soul.’

The movie ‘Tomorrow Never Dies’ as a Chinese spy, and the first female to James Bond. It was only thereafter that the world stood up and took notice of this woman with natural athleticism and spunk, who could be cast differently---- lapping, high- kicking and fist –slugging, just like one of the boys. “Jackie Chan once said that women should never fight onscreen and should only play the feminine role,” Yeoh recalls. ”He still thinks this is true, but he always add,’ Apart from Michelle.

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