Now an Oscar Winner, Michelle Yeoh Actually Became an Actress By Accident

Michelle Yeoh, this year's Best Actress Oscar winner, had a very different career path before she got into acting. In fact, her first love was ballet: at 15, Yeoh left her home in Malaysia to study at London's Royal Academy of Dance.

It didn't work out so well: a spinal injury forced her to abandon her dream of becoming a ballet dancer... only to find herself on the Oscars stage in 2023, accepting the biggest movie award for her role in a superhero comedy.

But little did Yeoh know of her bright future when she returned home and her mother signed her up for the 1983 Miss Malaysia pageant.

Yeoh won the pageant and caught the attention of D&D Films founder Dickson Poon. His friend later suggested that Yeoh audition for a commercial alongside Jackie Chan.

That's where things got interesting. Yeoh got the part and began her acting career.

Starting with several Hong Kong martial arts movies (even though she never had any special training), she then landed a role in Tomorrow Never Dies — the 1997 James Bond movie.

This role could have been (and sort of was) her breakout one, but she then turned down many offers out of fear of being typecast.

She worried in vain; some time later she would land a role in Everything Everywhere All At Once — an absurdist superhero multiverse comedy (yes) for which she would be nominated for an Oscar.

Today, Yeoh is the first actress of Southeast Asian descent to win the Academy Award for Best Actress.

We don't know if she could have made an amazing ballet dancer, but it looks like the alternative path her life has taken suits her just fine.