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Everything Everywhere All At Once actress Michelle Yeoh has bagged the Best Actress nomination at the 2023 Academy Awards. With her nomination, word started going around that she is the first Asian woman to be nominated in the category ever. However, that is not true. During a guest appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Yeoh corrected the host by stating that she is the first woman in 85 years to be honored with the nomination.
Prior to Yeoh, Merle Oberon, an actress of half-Indian descent, was nominated for Best Actress for the 1935 drama The Dark Angel. She had hidden her true identity during her career and passed for a white British actress.
Michelle Yeoh corrects Stephen Colbert about the first Asian woman to be nominated for an Oscar ever
More than 85 years later, the Academy has selected another woman of Asian descent as a nominee for the category of Best Actress. However, Michelle Yeoh has been careful to give credit to her forerunner, who was the first woman of Asian origin to be nominated for an Oscar. During the aforementioned interview, the Everything Everywhere All At Once actress corrected Stephen Colbert about her not being the first Asian woman to be nominated for Best Actress by the Academy and gave due credit to Oberon.
Michelle Yeoh's nomination was a refreshing change to see in Hollywood. It heralds a new beginning for an industry where Asian cinema is also being celebrated, as are colored actors. Oberon got her nomination for The Dark Angel, where she played a member of the British aristocracy caught up in a love triangle with two close friends. However, her Asian heritage was not reflected in that role. Yeoh, on the other hand, earned her nomination for a movie that celebrates her identity as a Chinese woman.
The Malaysian actress has been nominated for all the major Hollywood award shows for her stunning performance in Everything Everywhere All At Once. She also won the 2023 Screen Actors Guild’s (SAG) award for Best Actress. Michelle Yeoh is up against Cate Blanchett for Tár, Andrea Riseborough for To Leslie, Michelle Williams for The Fabelmans, and Ana de Armas for Blonde for the accolade.
Who was the first woman of Asian origin to be nominated for an Oscar in the category of Best Actress?
Merle Oberon was in a very different Hollywood from what the audience sees today. During her time, actors had to be of white origin to be accepted into the industry and given prestigious roles. The fact that she was of South Asian origin was hidden throughout her lifetime, as she fabricated a white identity for herself, claiming that she was from Tasmania, Australia.
In reality, Oberon was born in India to a Sri Lankan mother and an Anglo-Irish father. The actress' mixed ethnicity was a huge point of contention for herself as she struggled to negotiate her mixed heritage in an all-white industry from a very young age.
Catch The 95th Academy Award ceremony this March 12, 2023, to know who takes away the Best Actress title this year.
