Michelle Yeoh has given an inspirational speech after becoming the first Asian to win best actress at the 95th Academy Awards for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
She fought off competition from two-time Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, Ana De Armas, Andrea Riseborough and Michelle Williams.
Of all the universes, we live in the one where Michelle Yeoh makes history as the first Asian woman to win the Best Actress Oscar—love that for us! #Oscars #Oscars95 pic.twitter.com/Nb5CvKIwew
— The Academy (@TheAcademy) March 13, 2023
Accepting her prize, the 60-year-old said: "For all the little boys and girls who look like me, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. Dream big, dreams do come true. Ladies, never let anyone tell you you are past your prime.
"I have to dedicate this to my mum, all the mums in the world because they are really the superhero's and without them none of us would be here tonight. She’s 84 and I’m taking this home to her."
She added: "This is history in the making."
Yeoh has already won a Golden Globe and a Screen Actors Guild Award for her role in the offbeat comedy drama. Her Academy Award win makes her not only the second non-white person to win the Oscar for best actress, but also the first from an Asian background.
Everything Everywhere All At Once was the big winner on Sunday night in LA, taking seven Oscars out of its total of 11 nominations.
Earlier in the evening, the film's directors, Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, jointly won the best director Oscar.
The pair fended off competition from Martin McDonagh, Steven Spielberg, Todd Field and Ruben Ostlund.
Scheinert said: "Our fellow nominees you are our heroes. This is weird. We want to dedicate this to all the mummies in the world, our mums.
"Specifically my mum and dad, thank you for not squashing my creativity when I was making really disturbing horror films or really perverted comedy films or dressing in drag as a kid, which is a threat to nobody."
An emotional Jamie Lee Curtis paid tribute to all the special people in her life shouting "we just won an Oscar" after collecting the best supporting actress gong for her role in Everything Everywhere All At Once.
The US actress, 64, said on the stage: "I know it looks like I am standing up here on my own but I am not. There are hundreds of people and hundreds of people. We just won an Oscar. To my family, my beautiful husband, Christopher Guest, my daughters, Annie and Ruby, my sister Kelly – we just won an Oscar."
