Michelle Yeoh is TIME‘s 2022 Icon Of The Year, in this universe and all others
The 60-year-old industry vet finally landed her first top-billing role in A24's Everything Everywhere All At Once, which premiered earlier this year
Aux News Michelle Yeoh
If the multiverse is real and there actually are an infinite number of possible realities floating around out there, we are pretty damn lucky to be living in one where Michelle Yeoh not only exists, but has risen to the level of major movie star. The word “iconic” gets tossed around on the internet a lot these days, but Yeoh now has a bona fide claim to the title: TIME announced today that they’ve named her 2022 Icon Of The Year, a special category in the magazine’s annual Person Of The Year issue.
Yeoh, who is 60 years old and has been in the industry since the mid-’80s, has appeared in a number of major hits (including Crazy Rich Asians, Shang-Chi And The Legend Of The Ten Rings, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, and even Kung Fu Panda 2, among many others) but had never enjoyed the kind of household name, dare we say “iconic” level of success she is currently experiencing until being cast as struggling laundromat owner Evelyn Wang in A24's multiverse dramedy Everything Everywhere All At Once, which premiered earlier this year.
In her TIME interview, Yeoh discussed the power of representation, specifically the (appalling) fact that no Asian woman has ever won Best Actress at the Academy Awards. Yeoh, however, is very much in the race. “I’ve thought about it,” she said. “And not just me—I feel like my full Asian community has thought about it. They come up to me and they say, ‘You’re doing it for us.’”
She continued: “When you get an opportunity like this, you have to pour your heart and soul into it, because you don’t know when the next chance is… I think that is my biggest fear: Please don’t let this be the one and only.” After 2022—a.k.a. the year where Michelle Yeoh truly was Everywhere All At Once—that doesn’t seem like a possibility in this or any universe.
TIME also named Blackpink Entertainer Of The Year and country artist Mickey Guyton Breakthrough Artist Of The Year. Person Of The Year (which may or may not be Elon Musk for the second year in a row) will be announced tomorrow.
22 Comments
While gerbils are notoriously curious and friendly rodents, I will bite a motherfucker that doesn’t like Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Michelle Yeoh is an all time amazing actress and action star. I love that she’s finally getting all the flowers.
She survived Discovery’s season 3, which is amazing by itself.Still waiting for my Section 31 spinoff!
Sadly, I suspect her career taking off like this means it may never come to pass.
Its a shame, because with very little Tig and no more Michelle Yeoh, there is nowheres near enough snarky balancing characters to counteract the endless doe-eyed optimism of the rest of the USS Burnham.
Tig is tragically underused and I wish they would just add her to the main cast already.
I think last season’s sparing use had to do with COVID during filming or something. Plus, she’s seemingly always busy with other things.
That makes sense. I hope she’s able to clear up more of her schedule; you’re absolutely right the show needs more sarcasm to off-set all the straight-laced characters.
I still wonder what might have been if Capt Georgiou had been on Discovery for at least season 1, e.g. mentoring and growing-up Burnham before turning over the (theatrical) reigns and so on.If nothing else it would have given more weight and impact to Georgiou’s loss, though I was pretty bummed as it was.
Some of the complaints I’ve read about ST:D sound like Burnham’s redemption and rise is perceived as unearned or manufactured or similar; that might be less so if she’d had more seasoning under Georgiou.That aside, Personally I would have just liked to see more Michelle Yeoh in the Captain’s chair.
“Some of the complaints I’ve read about ST:D sound like Burnham’s redemption and rise is perceived as unearned or manufactured or similar”———SPOILER ALERT———As you may recall, she was convicted of mutiny. As of Season 4, she’s captain of Discovery.
The 60-year-old industry vet finally landed her first top-billing role in A24’s Everything Everywhere All At Once
While it’s the correct choice that Michelle Yeoh is Icon of the Year, unless I’m missing something she’s had top-billing at least once before. In Wing Chun (1994) she plays the titular protagonist Yim Wing-Chun and features on the movie poster.
It also gave us this incredible scene:
Yes, Madam as well, though I suppose she shares top billing with Cynthia Rothrock in that case.
Yeah she has been top-billed in a number of movies, including Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.
*10 x Oscar nominated, multiple international award winning and global smash hit ‘Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon’ – sure she may have been sharing the top billing with Chow Yun Fat but it was on an equal footing – she’d already been a Bond girl at that stage.If we’re talking sole top-billing then there’s also the spin-off to Jackie Chan’s Police Story 3: Supercop – the imaginatively titled ‘Supercop 2′
She was also one of the best Bond Girls
I’ve always said that motorcycle helicopter chase where she’s handcuffed to Pierce Brosnan is everything a Bond set piece should be: thrilling, sexy, and utterly absurd all at the same time.
The director told both Brosnan and Yeoh they would be driving the motorcycle, resulting in that beautifully natural scuffle over it.
okay can she retire now I’m sick of her. new celeb please
Michelle Yeoh is indeed awesome and totally deserves all the love.
Person Of The Year (which may or may not be Elon Musk for the second year in a row) will be announced tomorrow.It has to be either Zelensky or Putin (probably the former). It would be insane for it to be someone else.
Told you.
Slightly off-topic but given that 1: I have had a massive crush on Ms Yeoh for the last 25 years, ever since seeing her in Supercop and Tomorrow Never Dies and 2: I have been a massive formula one fan for even longer, I was legit gobsmacked to learn only just recently that she’s been in a long-term relationship with former Ferrari team principal and more recently head of the FIA (*like, motorsports version of FIFA) – Jean Todt for the last 18 years