Michelle Yeoh created history at the 2023 Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Awards on 26 February by becoming the first Asian woman to win the award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role. The win came for her stellar performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

It follows her 2023 Golden Globe win for Best Actress in a Motion Picture, Musical or Comedy and her first Oscar nomination.

What did Michelle Yeoh say after winning the SAG Award?

2023 SAG Awards
Image credit: SAG Awards®/@SAGawards/Twitter

The 60-year-old Yeoh, who is Malaysian, was welcomed to the stage by Jeff Bridges to receive the honour.

“SAG-AFTRA, to get this from you, who understands what it is to get here, everyone of you knows the journey, the roller-coaster ride, the ups and downs,” Yeoh said while accepting the award. “But importantly, we never give up. I thank you for your love, for your support because I know I’m up against titans, rightly so.”

“This is not just for me. This is for every little girl that looks like me. Sally Field, you said all the right things. We’re here because we love what we do and we’ll never stop doing this because we really, really love it,” she added, after a brief emotional pause.

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 that it is possible, and I am grateful,” she continued.

The actress concluded by saying that her mom would be “eternally grateful” for her win.

Everything Everywhere All at Once sweeps the 2023 SAG Awards

Yeoh had competition in her category from Ana de Armas (Blonde), Cate Blanchett (Tár), Danielle Deadwyler (Till), and Viola Davis (The Woman King).

Everything Everywhere All at Once earned five nominations in four categories, including Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu earning nods for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role. The film eventually ended the 2023 SAG awards by winning in all four categories it had nominees in.

Yeoh’s co-star, Ke Huy Quan became the first Asian male to win an acting award in the film segment of SAG since its inception in 1994. He is also the second Asian actor to win any individual SAG prize (in film or television) after Lee Jung-Jae, who won for male actor in a drama series for Squid Game.

Directed by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, the film follows a Chinese-American immigrant named Evelyn Wang (Yeoh), who is drawn into an inter-dimensional adventure to save the multiverse from a powerful being.

The 2023 SAG Awards ceremony was held at the Fairmont Century Plaza in Century City, California, the US. It was streamed live on Netflix’s official YouTube channel.

(Main and Featured images: Frederic J. Brown/AFP)

This story first appeared in Lifestyle Asia Hong Kong

written by.

Manas Sen Gupta

Manas enjoys reading detective fiction and writing about anything that interests him. When not doing either of the two, he checks Instagram for the latest posts by travellers. Winter is his favourite season and he can happily eat a bowl of noodles any time of the day.
 
Michelle Yeoh Makes History At The 2023 SAG Awards With Win For Best Leading Actress