Michelle Yeoh: Net Worth, Biography, and Much More

Michelle Yeoh might be just one of the most underrated actresses when it comes to audiences, although critics and filmmakers have loved her and her work for a long time now. However, this is about to change, and by that, we mean that more and more people are now recognizing just how talented Michelle Yeoh is, and how much she deserves to be appreciated, and we can thank the award season for that.

Michelle Yeoh has been nominated for several awards and accolades this year after her splendid work in the movie Everything Everywhere All At Once which told us the story of Chinese immigrants. However, this article isn’t about the movie or the awards, it is focused on Michelle Yeoh. So, keep reading to find out everything you need to know about Michelle Yeoh, from her net worth to her biography and much more

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Michelle Yeoh’s Net Worth

Over the course of Michelle Yeoh’s 40-year career, she has starred in and produced a number of successful films and television shows. She also has collaborated with brands like Guerlain to promote products, such as their skincare items. Yeoh’s net worth is estimated to be $40 million in 2023. She reportedly was paid $70,000 per episode of The Witcher: Blood Origin, or $420,000 for the six-episode season. Her salary for Crazy Rich Asians has not been confirmed, but it is believed that most of the cast were paid anywhere between $500,000 and $2 million. Yeoh is set to star in major films like Avatar 3 and Avatar 4, and if she wins the Oscar for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once, we’re sure she’ll be able to increase her salary going forward!

Michelle Yeoh Biography

Yeoh Choo Kheng was born on August 6, 1962, in Ipoh, Perak, Federation of Malaya (called Malaysia today). She studied ballet from the time she was four years old. She moved with her family to the United Kingdom when she was 15 years old. After graduating from an all-girls boarding school, she attended the Royal Academy of Dance in London. Unfortunately, she suffered an injury to her spine and could not go on to become a professional ballet dancer. She then studied choreography and received her Bachelor of Arts in 1982, with her degree in creative arts and a minor in drama.

In 1983, when Yeoh was 20 years old, she won the Miss Malaysia World Contest and then served as Malaysia’s representative at the Miss World pageant in London. She won the Miss International Tourism Quest pageant in Australia later that year. She was noticed by D&B Films, a Hong Kong film production company when she appeared in a commercial with actor and martial artist Jackie Chan. She did not have much understanding of Cantonese, having little knowledge of the dialect of her hometown, so she learned to speak and write Cantonese properly when she began her film career.

D&B Films began crediting Yeoh as “Michelle Khan” in an effort to make her name more marketable internationally. She began acting in action movies, particularly martial arts films and did most of her own stunts. Her first lead role was in the movie Yes, Madam in 1985. She briefly retired from acting from 1987 through 1991 for the duration of her marriage to Dickson Poon, one of the executives of D&B Films. Following her divorce from Poon, she returned to acting and starred in Police Story 3: Super Cop.

Michelle Yeoh Early Days

Yeoh starred in several more films before her career in Hollywood began. She changed her stage name to Michelle Yeoh when she was cast as Wai Lin in the James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies in 1997, opposite Pierce Brosnan. Director Roger Spottiswoodie did not allow her to perform her own stunts, but she did perform her own fighting scenes. Director Ang Lee cast Yeoh in the 2000 martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The role of Yu Shu Lien was also her first Mandarin-language role, so she had to learn all of her lines phonetically. For her performance, Yeoh was nominated for the BAFTA for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

Michelle Yeoh Career

In 2002, Yeoh began her own production company, Mythical Films, and she produced her first English film, The Touch. She then starred as Mameha in the film adaptation of the novel Memoirs of a Geisha in 2005. She continued to perform in English-language films, such as Sunshine in 2007 and The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor in 2011.

Michelle Yeoh Movies

Michelle Yeoh appeared in her first television role in 2015 when she was cast as Mei Foster, an undercover spy, in the fifth season of Cinemax/Sky’s series Strike Back. In 2016, she appeared on Star Trek: Discovery as Starfleet Captain Philippa Georgiou. Her popularity in the West began to rise when she portrayed Eleanor Young, the family matriarch, in the film adaptation of the novel Crazy Rich Asians, directed by Jon M. Chu. She reunited with her Crazy Rich Asians co-star Henry Golding in Last Christmas, also starring Emilia Clarke, known for her role as Daenerys Targaryen on HBO’s Game of Thrones.

Michelle Yeoh As Ying Nan In Shang-Chi

In 2021, Yeoh appeared as Ying Nan in Marvel Studios’ Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, alongside Simu Liu. Most recently, she starred in Everything Everywhere All at Once in March 2022. For this performance, she earned her first Golden Globe win, as well as her first Oscar nomination, making her the first Malaysian person to be nominated for an Academy Award, as well as the first Asian to be nominated for Best Actress. Next up, she will appear in the series American Born Chinese, an adaptation of the book of the same name, on Disney+. She also will star in Netflix’s eight-part series The Brothers Sun, Kenneth Branagh’s A Haunting in Venice, and the film adaptation of the Broadway musical Wicked, also directed by Jon M. Chu.

Michelle Yeoh’s Dating History

In 1987, Michelle Yeoh married Dickson Poon, one of the heads of D&B Group, the film production company by which she was discovered. Poon is an entrepreneur from Hong Kong who owns several businesses, such as Harvey Nichols and Charles Jourdan. They were divorced in 1992. She was engaged to American cardiologist Alan Heldman in 1998, but they never married.

She began dating Jean Todt in 2004. At the time, he was the CEO and General Manager of Scuderia Ferrari, and then the president of the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile, or FIA. She confirmed her engagement to Todt in 2008 during an interview on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, but they have yet to marry. They live together in Geneva, Switzerland.

Michelle Yeoh Family

Michelle Yeoh is one of four children born to Janet Yeoh and Yeoh Kian-teik. Her father passed away on November 5, 2014, and was a lawyer and politician. Yeoh has a fraternal twin named Rachel Yeoh. She also has two brothers named Lam Hoe Yeoh and Robert Yeoh.

Yeoh has no children of her own. She tried in vitro fertilization for some time, and she revealed that she ended her first marriage when she was unable to become pregnant, rather than continuing to put the stress on herself and then-husband Dickson Poon. She has a stepson named Nicolas from her long-term relationship with Jean Todt. Nicolas is a motor car racing manager like his father.

Conclusion

We hope that after reading this article you head over to your laptop and watch every performance of Michelle Yeoh, because each is better than the other, and do let us know in the comments which one was your favorite!