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Michelle Yeoh
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Best known in the West for her role as Wai Lin in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) before her international breakout role in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Michelle Yeoh is not your ordinary Bond girl. Her elegant good looks coupled with a killer high kick have made Yeoh one of the most popular martial arts stars in Asia and one of Hong Kong's most famous icons abroad. Born on August 6, 1962, in the mining town of Ipoh, in Western Malaysia, Yeoh's ethnically Chinese parents taught her Malay and English well before she learned Cantonese. She began ballet dancing at the age of four, and, inspired by Fame (1980), she enrolled in England's Royal Academy of Dance, where she eventually earned a B.A. Though a back injury ended her career as a ballerina, she returned to her home country to be crowned Miss Malaysia of 1983. From there, she appeared in a television commercial with Jackie Chan which caught the attention of a fledgling film production company called D&B Films. Taking the stage name Michelle Khan, she acted in bit parts in a number of forgettable films until her breakout role in the girls-with-guns action-comedy Yes, Madam!
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Michelle Yeoh is a Hong Kong-based actress and dancer, fighting her way to the top in the male-dominated genre of Hong Kong action films, where she has been known for years as the "queen of martial arts". She was born to a lawyer's family in Ipoh, Malaysia on August 6, 1962 and her Chinese parents bestowed on her the Chinese name of Yeoh Choo Kheng. Growing up in the tropical tin-mining town, she spent countless weekends swimming and diving with her friends at the Ipoh Swimming Club, right next door to her parents' house. She was a tomboy and loved many sports. As a teenager, she represented Malaysia in national competitions for swimming, diving, and squash. She was once the Malaysian Junior Squash Champion.
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Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh gathered international fame playing Bond Girl Wai Lin in the blockbuster smash hit Tomorrow Never Dies (1997) opposite Pierce Brosnan. She gained even more recognition after portraying Yu Shu Lien in the Academy Award-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) for director Ang Lee. One of Hong Kong’s most famous icons, Yeoh first came to the attention of the Asian public in the Cynthia Rothrock action comedy Yes, Madam (1985), before making a reputation for herself as one of the most popular martial arts stars in Asia with her impressing performances in the enormously successful Supercop (1992, with Jackie Chan), Supercop 2 (1993), The Heroic Trio (1993, opposite Maggie Cheung and Anita Mu), The Tai-Chi Master (1993, with kung-fu phenomenon Jet Li) and the hit Wing Chun (1994). One of the highest paid actresses in Hong Kong, Yeoh is ... known as a producer, as well as a star, for producing The Touch (2002) and Silver Hawk (2004).
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Born in Ipoh, Malaysia, Michelle Yeoh has become one of the top fighting females in the world of cinema. A former Miss Malaysia (1983), she made her film debut in Owl vs. Bumbo (1984). She later married D&B founder Dickson Poon and eventually retired from cinema. After her divorce, she came back to films, teaming up with Jackie Chan in Police Story III: Supercop (1992). Since then, she has made an impact on the HK movie world with her sheer toughness and fighting skills. In 1997, she made the international trend as she starred as a Chinese agent in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), a blockbuster film in the US.
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Michelle Yeoh (raised as Yeoh Choo-Kheng) was born in Malaysia in 1962. As a teenager, she excelled at many sports but her heart was in ballet, which she went to study at the Royal Academy of Dance in London, where she ... received a degree in Creative Arts. Upon returning to Malaysia (where she wanted to become a ballet teacher), she entered and won the 1983 Miss Malaysia pageant. This attracted the attention of several important people in HK, including Jackie Chan, who invited her to Hong Kong to make a commercial with him. It was at this point that she became interested in martial arts. Though she doesn't consider himself a martial artist per se, she saw that she could combine the techniques along with her ballet training in films.
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In Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia, Yeoh Choo-Kheng, who would later be popular as Michelle Yeoh, was born on August 6, 1962, to an attorney father and a homemaker mother. An athlete and a tomboy as a young girl, Yeoh discovered a strong passion for ballet when she was 4. As a teenager, Yeoh became interested in such spots as squash, swimming and diving, and she competed nationally during her teenage years. After watching the motion picture Fame (1980)... Yeoh decided to pursue a dancing career. She then flew to England and attended London’s Royal Academy of Dance. An ambitious student, she was determined to earn a Master’s Degree in dancing.
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Michelle Yeoh