LOS ANGELES — International icon Michelle Yeoh made history Sunday by winning the Oscar for lead actress, the first Asian ever to triumph in the category.
“Ladies, don’t let anybody ever tell you you are past your prime,” Yeoh, who mounted the stage to a standing ovation, said upon collecting her prize. “I have to dedicate this to my mom — all the moms in the world — because they are really the superheroes.”
The “Everything Everywhere All at Once” star was only the second Asian performer, and the first to identify openly as such, nominated for lead actress in 95 years of the Oscars; 1936 nominee Merle Oberon disguised her part-Indian heritage during an earlier, far less racially open era of Hollywood history.
