It has been a long time since the moment that Michelle Yeoh’s moment is
Everywhere All at Once: The last actress to win an award for outstanding performance by a woman in a leading role during the SAG Awards
With her many awards this season, no matter what happens on Oscar night, she will finally be seen in Hollywood as a versatile actor like she’s always been.
It was the first time an Asian woman won an award for outstanding performance by a female actor in a leading role, as evidenced by the fact that Yeoh did it at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
“It was a dream come true until I got here,” Yeoh said as she accepted a Golden Globe award for best actress. “Because, look at this face. I arrived and was told I was a minority. And I’m like, ‘No, that’s not possible.’
“Everything Everywhere All at Once” had a huge night at the SAG Awards, winning the ceremony’s top award for outstanding performance by a cast in a motion picture. In addition to Yeoh, co-stars Jamie Lee Curtis and Ke Huy Quan also won awards in their respective categories.
The movie earned 11 Oscar nominations, including best picture, and best actress for Yeoh. During the Golden Globe Awards last month, Yeoh won a award for her performance in the film.
The Malaysian actress has been kicking ass on and off screen for decades, and is now sweeping the awards season for her starring role in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
After picking up a Screen Actors Guild award and dropping a well-intentioned F-bomb in her acceptance speech, she is one of the last people on this impressive run.
Who is she? Evelyn Wang, the overwhelmed mother and laundromat owner, wins everything all-at-once-with-all at once
Who is she? You may know her most recently as Evelyn Wang from EEAO, the overwhelmed mother and laundromat owner who is grappling with her complicated relationship with her daughter.
F***! Thank you very much! This is not just for me but for every girl that looks like me. Thank you for giving me a seat at the table, because so many of us need this. We want to be seen. We want to be heard. And tonight, you have shown us it is possible.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/02/27/1159799266/michelle-yeoh-oscar-awards-win-representation-everything-everywhere-all-at-once
Everywhere All At Once: A Story of an Asian Laundromat Owner and a Superhero “Who Wants to Save Her Family”
We just have to rock the boat and say, ‘Look at us. Give us a chance.’ Because guess what? We exist in your society. We are part of the society and very, very much an intricate part of this whole community. This is the only way we will get more opportunities — if we fight for it and no longer be able to say, ‘OK, I’ll turn the other cheek.’ Dang — no more turning the other cheek.
Those of us who’ve known her and watched her from the very start of her career realize that this is not a new thing for her. In a world where men, and white men in particular, are just naturally seen as kind of the center of the universe, there’s something really lovely about the fact she’s getting her due now … But also something a little bit — again, why did it take so long?
” Everything Everywhere All at Once” features a number of plot twists as a failing laundromat owner learns that she’s actually a superhero fighting to save her family.
And the actors and creators behind the film are sharing behind-the-scenes stories of their own lives as the movie racks up honors and leads the way with 11 Academy Award nominations.
The stars of the movie have been outspoken about how important it is to receive recognition for their work, noting how difficult it is for non-white actors to break into the industry. They’re sharing that their lives as immigrants have shaped their work.
“You receive scripts. Roles seem to shrink with the numbers getting bigger as the years get bigger. As a woman, as a Asian woman, they put you in boxes. The guy who gets to go on the adventure and save the world is always the one with the most to lose.
“This is a woman, an Asian, immigrant woman, who is dealing with all of the issues that we all can relate to, that is very ordinary,” Yeoh said. “And what I loved about it, it was like this is an ordinary woman who is being seen, who’s given a role to play as a superhero.”
This is a really emotional moment for me. Recently, I got the good news that if I won tonight, I would become the first Asian actor to win in this category, and that’s what I did. I immediately realized that this moment isn’t for me. Everyone who has asked for change is also a part of it.
After fleeing Vietnam in the early 70s, and living in Hong Kong as a refugee after the war ended, he came to Los Angeles in 1979. He started his career in Hollywood as a child actor, which included “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Prey” and “The Goonies”. He kept on auditioning, but his phone stopped ringing, according to the New York Times.
After completing his degree in film production at the University of Southern California he went on to work behind the scenes as an assistant director. He wouldn’t have another film role for nearly 20 years.
He realized how much he missed acting when he saw the cast of “Crazy Rich Asians”. And as soon as he came across the “Everything Everywhere” script, he knew he was the right person to play Waymond.
His big-screen comeback has earned him rave reviews and numerous accolades , including Golden Globe and Critics Choice awards for best supporting actor. And Quan, 51, says these days he’s feeling more optimistic about the Hollywood prospects for him and other Asian actors.
“This award is dedicated to my dad, a Taiwanese immigrant who worked himself into an early grave,” Wang said. “This is dedicated to the Evelyns and the Waymonds, immigrant parents who would kill themselves for us immigrant children, to give us a better life.”
After the 11 Oscar nominations for “everything, everywhere” were announced, Wang used his father’s example to say how hard his parents had worked to keep their family bakery afloat and how they often watched the Academy Awards together.
The Breakout in Film Award Winner, Stephanie Hsu, remembers “Ratatouille” and “Outside Good People Shooting”
One of the movie’s many wacky plot twists is a film-within-the-film called “Raccacoonie” which features a fictional animal sitting on a chef’s head. It’s a reference to “Ratatouille” and a homage to his dad.
“Anyone who has Asian parents knows that they are famously bad at movie titles,” Wang told The Hollywood Reporter . “My favorite one is, he said, ‘Let’s go see ‘Outside Good People Shooting.'” That, Wang said, was his dad’s name for “Good Will Hunting.”
“After the commotion of nomination day faded, I finally got a moment to take a shower and have a second to myself,” Wang wrote. “As the water ran over my stunned face, I sobbed tears of joy — deep tears of joy — finally feeling a release and acceptance that my Dad was, and is, so proud.”
As Stephanie Hsu stepped on stage to accept a “breakout in film” award at the Unforgettable Gala, which celebrates Asians and Pacific Islanders in entertainment, she thought back to a memorable moment in her childhood.
Hsu was chosen to act out a fake lemonade ad in front of her school. She used the same method to hold her award as she did at the LA ceremony.
“I remember thinking to myself, that was really fun.” I think I’m pretty good at it, but I might be better off thinking about something more practical. “That was a really young age, I was shaking with emotion,” she said. “And I think it’s because — I know it’s because — this world, and the world of storytelling, felt so far away and so — like, if you don’t see it, you can’t possibly imagine that it’s ever going to be you or your friends up there or people who look like you.”
Despite her doubts, Hsu went on to study drama at New York University, become a Broadway star in “Be More Chill” and the “SpongeBob SquarePants” musical and land a prominent TV role in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.”
But still, she says she had a hard time imagining she could succeed. That’s started to change in the whirlwind of acclaim around her powerful “Everything Everywhere” dual performances as downtrodden daughter Joy Wang and ruthless supervillain Jobu Tupaki.
“I’m so excited,” the 32-year-old said at the Unforgettable Gala, which celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. I have been so scared that it would never be possible that I have never really allowed myself to love doing this. And I feel like this year has given me so much permission to truly love what I do, and I hope to make y’all proud, and I’m so excited to keep going.”
She told Women’s Wear Daily that her favorite part of the story was the mother-daughter relationship. “It was almost like that dynamic was no explanation or discussion necessary. There was just something about it that I knew deeply in my bones.”
This ride is amazing, but it is not real. We have not transcended this moment, right?” “Huht told the Times.” When James Hong started acting, people would just call him Chinaman and say “Get on your mark,” they wouldn’t say his name. Michelle waited almost 40 years for her first chance of being No. 1 on the call sheet, and Ke left acting for (nearly) 20 years. As successful as this film has been, the biggest fear on the other side is if this is my last chance.
James Hong has hundreds of acting credits to his name, but it took nearly seven decades for him to end up center stage at the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
“There is one of us who has supported the ensemble for longer than any of us has been alive, that’s Hong,” said Ang Lee as the cast of “Everything Everywhere” won the best ensemble award.
Source: https://www.cnn.com/style/article/everything-everywhere-all-at-once-hyphenated-cec/index.html
Making Sense of Other Asians in the Entertainment Industry: The Rise and Fall of “The Goggles” at the 20th SAG Awards
“These guys wore goggles and talked like they were Asian, and that’s how the leading role was played back in those days,” said Hong.
“I ended up in the early career mostly playing laundrymen, or persecuted Chinamen … it was tough, very tough, to get out of the mold,” he told Great Big Story in 2020
Hong told Great Big Story that the industry began to notice who they were. “We weren’t just extras, or gimmick people. We were in a play that we organized. We were the main, lead people. We were performing as the actors. We commanded attention.
As he commanded attention once again and drew a standing ovation from the crowd at this year’s SAG Awards, Hong noted he hopes to be on the awards circuit for years to come.
