Michelle Yeoh, ignored for years, now I fight for everyone - Lifestyle

Michelle Yeoh won an Oscar this year for her role as a tenacious and resilient woman in The Daniels' Everything Everywhere All at Once.
60 years old, many action films including Avatar and arthouse such as The Tiger and the Dragon and Memoirs of a Geisha, the Malaysian-born actress leads the charge of a generation of Asians that Hollywood finally pays attention to. "After the Oscar I never stopped, it was a fantastic and tiring year - she said at the Women in Motion meeting of the Kering group, celebrated woman of the year as Viola Davis in 2022 - I would need holidays. It's hard to pick good projects after such overwhelming success but I took my risks with Wicked." He is in the cast of the fantasy musical directed by Jon M. Chu, one of the most anticipated films in theaters for after the summer, prequel to The Wizard of Oz and tells the stories of all those characters that populate the magical world, starting from the Wizard himself, up to the wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the North.
Yeoh, with a 40-year career behind her, says that "Asian artists have been ignored for too long, but I'm hopeful for the future. The first time I came to Cannes was for Ang Lee's The Tiger and the Dragon, a huge box office success in the world, but at the time it was pretty obvious that Hollywood wasn't ready to recognize the value of Asian actors, it had 10 Oscar nominations but none for performances. In the last 20 years, he points out, "many fantastic Asian, Chinese films have been released. But if you look at the awards, at Cannes, at the Oscars, maybe they have nominations for films or direction, never for actors, a bit strange, isn't it?" The turnaround is recent, and concerns her: Michelle Yeoh with the Oscar has become a champion of diversity in cinema, "and I will continue to fight for a cinema accessible to all. The most important thing she has done is to have generated such pride with our people," said Yeoh, the first Asian actress to win Best Actress, and only the second woman of color, after Halle Berry's victory in 2002. "The day I won, I honestly heard the roar of joy coming from that corner of the world. And I haven't stopped yet. When there are so few roles in the past it is so competitive. If you get the job, I won't get the job. But now we have to change our mentality. If I'm successful, you can succeed." The success of Everything Everywhere All At Once is proof that different storytelling should be embraced and that audiences are interested in new ideas. However, he denied rumors of a sequel.
The turning point he said was Crazy & Rich (Crazy Rich Asians), a 2018 film (also seen on Netflix), such a global success that it forced Hollywood executives to change their mindset. "I wouldn't be sitting here today without that success."
What's next? "The best thing that happened is that I get a script that doesn't describe the character as a Chinese or Asian looking person," he replied. "We are actors. We should get into the roles we are given and do our job as best we can. This, for me, is the biggest step forward. My hope is to make a journey not only for myself, to be able to negotiate for better pay and better roles, but also for others."
"For too long, nothe women we were left out of the rooms and conversations. We have been told that the door is closed to us. (...) Our ideas are endless. Our passion is endless. And we came to kick down that door," he said upon receiving the award. Addressing the audience of filmmakers from the festival's jury and guests, including Isabelle Huppert, Leonardo DiCaprio, Salma Hayek Pinault, Alfonso Cuaron, Kaouther Ben Hania and Hirokazu Kore-eda said: "Keep fighting. Keep pushing. Keep telling your stories. Your voices are important and your vision is vital. Because I'm not on this stage alone."