Happy Birthday Michelle Yeoh!

Happy Birthday to Michelle Yeoh who turns 52 today! She’s probably known for her most famous part in Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. Other notable film releases include Magnificent Warriors, Police Story 3: Super Cop, Wing Chun, Fearless, Tai Chi Master, the James Bond movie Tomorrow Never Dies, The Lady, as well as the forthcoming sequel to Crouching Tiger.

Here’s her notable fight scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, against Ziyi.

Born Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng, she’s a Malaysian actress and former model, who performed a lot of her own stunts in Hong Kong action films in the early 90’s.

From Wikipedia:

“She was keen on dance from an early age, beginning ballet at the age of four. At the age of 15, she moved with her parents to England, where she was enrolled in a boarding school. Yeoh later studied at the Royal Academy of Dance in London, majoring in ballet. However, a spinal injury prevented her from becoming a professional ballet dancer, and she transferred her attention to choreography and other arts. She later received a B.A. degree in Creative Arts with a minor in Drama.

In 1983, at the age of 20, Yeoh won the Miss Malaysia beauty pageant. She represented Malaysia at the Queen of the Pacific 1983 beauty pageant which was held in Australia and won the crown. She was also Malaysia’s representative at the 1983 Miss World pageant in London. From there, she appeared in a television commercial with Jackie Chan which caught the attention of a fledgling Hong Kong film production company, D&B Films. Yeoh started her film career acting in action and martial arts films such as Yes, Madam in 1985, after which she did most of her own stunts. The D&B Group in Hong Kong was run by Dickson Poon. Yeoh married Poon in 1987 and retired from acting. After the couple divorced in 1992, Yeoh returned to acting.”

Trailer: Wing Chun

Kicking butt in Police Story 3: Super Cop

YouTube tribute video: