KUALA LUMPUR, May 23 — Academy Award-winning actress Tan Sri Michelle Yeoh will continue to ‘knock down the doors’ that hold female artistes back in Hollywood.
Yeoh was honoured with Kering’s Women in Motion Award on Sunday (May 21) at a gala dinner in Cannes and gave a speech in tribute to women in film of the past and future.
According to the 60-year-old actress, she has ‘watched the currents’ through her long career and is seeing ‘the tides turning’.
“For too long, we as women have been left out of rooms and conversations. We have been told the door is closed to us,” Yeoh said in her speech.
“Well, Virginia Woolf once said, ‘There is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.’ Our ideas are endless. Our passion is infinite. And we have come to knock that door down.”
Yeoh was grateful to be recognised among the other prominent women in film before her who she said were ‘too often unacknowledged’.
“There is still work to do, we have a long way to go before we can say we are on equal footing,” she shared.
“So what I would like to say is keep fighting, keep pushing, keep telling your stories. Your voices are important and your vision is vital.”
The Ipoh-born added that she will stand for all aspiring female artistes, regardless of their age, and ‘hold the door open, never letting it close again’.
Past recipients of the Kering Women in Motion Award include Viola Davis, Isabelle Huppert and Gong Li.
Yeoh was later seen dancing the night away alongside Captain Marvel actress Brie Larson while standing on top of chairs with a saxophone player in a now-viral clip.
Michelle Yeoh and Brie Larson dance at the Kering Women in Motion Dinner. https://t.co/QZr6QE6gl2 pic.twitter.com/D1EilZqMf0
— Variety (@Variety) May 21, 2023
According to Variety, Yeoh left the dinner at 2am in the morning, dripping in sweat from the dance party.
