Dato'
Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng (Chinese pinyin Yáng
Ziqióng born August 6, 1962) is a Hong Kong-based
actress and dancer, sometimes billed as "Michelle
Khan". Yeoh is a Malaysian Chinese born in Ipoh,
Malaysia. Yeoh was chosen by People magazine as one
of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1997.
Education
Yeoh began ballet dancing at the age
of four. Inspired by the movie, Fame (1980), she enrolled
in England's Royal Academy of Dance, where she eventually
earned a Bachelor of Art degree in dancing. She also
excelled in athletic events. During her teenage years,
Yeoh enjoyed playing squash and was also a national
competitor in swimming and diving. Yeoh was quite
ambitious and was determined to gain a master's in
dancing. While she was living in England, Yeoh explored
contemporary, jazz and ballet dancing. Michelle's
dream of being a prima ballerina was abruptly cut
short by a spinal injury which she suffered during
a ballet practicing session at her college years.
The doctor she consulted announced that a rotated
disk in her spine would not be able to stand the daily
intensive ballet workout. Michelle consequently had
to switch her focus away from dance to choreography
and other arts. Sadly, Michelle never did get a chance
to perform ballet professionally on stage. Instead,
she alternately set her sights on running her own
school to teach ballet.
Beginning of career
In 1983, Yeoh returned to her home country, Malaysia.
It was at the age of 21 when Yeoh became the winner
of the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant in 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.
Yeoh's career in Hong Kong started
in modeling, where she appeared in a series of commercials
for Charles Jourdan, opposite action movie heroes
Jackie Chan and Chow Yun-Fat. The Charles Jourdan
brand was handled by D&B Group in Hong Kong, and
this is how Yeoh met her future husband, Dickson Poon.
In 1988, she retired after marrying prominent Hong
Kong tycoon, Dickson Poon of D&B Films. Three
years later, the couple divorced, and Yeoh returned
to acting in 1992. Her first movie after the comeback
was Police Story 3, which was partly shot in Kuala
Lumpur, Malaysia.
Ascension to fame
Despite having no formal martial arts
training, Yeoh is best known for her roles in action
and martial arts movies (notably The Heroic Trio in
1993, Tai-Chi Master and Wing Chun in 1994). She relies
on her dance training and instructors, and does many
of her own stunts. She is one of the few women Jackie
Chan allows to do her own stunts in his movies; they
first worked together on a commercial in 1984.
Yeoh learned English and Malay before
Chinese (Cantonese dialect), and still cannot read
Chinese. In some of her early films, she recited her
dialogue by rote.Like many other Hong Kong stars,
Yeoh has attempted to break into Hollywood. Despite
starring in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies
(1997) --garnering considerable praise as one of the
genre's most popular Bond Girls-- and the popular
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), which also
starred Zhang Ziyi, she has not won a mainstream audience
in the English-speaking world as of yet. She could
have gained that audience had she accepted the role
of Seraph in the two Matrix sequels, but due to a
scheduling conflict she was unable to accept them,
so the Matrix writers changed Seraph into a male character
and cast Colin Chou in the role. In 2002, she produced
her first English movie, The Touch through her own
production company, Mythical Films.
Romance
In December 2004, Ferrari Formula One team principal
Jean Todt announced his engagement to Yeoh at a news
conference. "I proposed to her and we are now
engaged," said the 58 year old Todt. However,
a day later, Yeoh denied the engagement. During a
phone interview with Chinese-language newspaper Oriental
Daily News, Yeoh was asked about the engagement and
she exclaimed, "What? How did that come about?
I did not know about it?" When asked whether
Todt had asked her to marry him, she said, "No,
I have a lot of responsibilities and I've got a lot
of work and projects to do. I think I'll get them
done first." The marriage rumors began circulating
when Yeoh brought Todt home to visit with her family
in December 2004. "This is the first time I have
brought Todt to see my parents. Everybody seems to
like him and he has been accepted by family members,
but we have not talked about marriage just yet,"
she said. When questioned about the beautiful blue
diamond ring that she was wearing, she said it was
not an engagement ring but just a present from Todt.
Yeoh stated that she was happy with the relationship
as it was and that she would "inform everyone
if she got married in the future." Todt and Yeoh
met in June 2004 in a promotional event organized
by Ferrari in Shanghai, China. They were introduced
by Yeoh's former beau of four years, Hong Kong movie
producer, Thomas Chung
Awards
In 2001, Yeoh was given the title of dato' by the
Sultan of Perak, her home state. Dato' is an honorary
Malaysian title somewhat like an English knighthood,
and it lies below the ranks of Dato' Seri, Tan Sri
and Tun.
Filmography
Untitled Sunshine Project (2006)
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
Silverhawk (2004)
The Touch (2002)
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Moonlight Express (1999)
Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
The Soong Sisters (1997)
The Stunt Woman (1996)
Wonder Seven (1994)
Shaolin Popey 2 - Messy Temple (1994)
Tai-Chi Master (1994)
Wing Chun (1994)
Once a Cop (1993)
Holy Weapon (1993)
Executioners (1993)
Butterfly and Sword (1993)
The Heroic Trio (1993)
Supercop - Police Story III (1992)
Easy Money (1987
Magnificent Warriors (1987)
In the Line of Duty (1986)
My Lucky Stars 2 - Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars (1985)
Yes, Madam (1985)
The Owl and Bumbo (1984)
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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