Award-winning actress Michelle Yeoh told reporters in Kuala Lumpur on Tuesday that “we should never allow somebody to put us in a box” and advocated for diversity and women’s empowerment in the entertainment business.The Malaysian actress returned to topics that had been a mainstay of her awards season interviews when speaking at her first news conference in her native nation after her historic best actress victory.

“I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had the opportunity to work with and for highly intriguing, diverse, and forward-thinking filmmakers on a consistent basis. My ability to advocate for representation, diversity, and particularly women’s empowerment has been made possible by that, she said.

I don’t believe just because we are women, we are a weaker sex… We should never allow somebody to put us in a box.

She went on to say that being the first Asian woman to win the best actress Oscar “represents so much to so many of us” and that she “heard the roar of joy, happiness all across the world to Los Angeles” after she won.

The Chinese-Malaysian parents of the 60-year-old Hollywood star gave birth to them in the northern city of Ipoh. She loved dance from a young age and focused on ballet while studying in England.

Yeoh has been in movies dating back to the 1980s, but it wasn’t until 1997’s “Tomorrow Never Dies” with Pierce Brosnan that she made a name for herself in Hollywood. She played the first ethnic Chinese Bond girl in that picture.

She also acted in the martial arts movie “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” which won an Oscar in 2000.

the 2005 period drama “Memoirs of a Geisha” and the 2018 romantic comedy “Crazy Rich Asians”.

AFP