Michelle Yeoh, of Star Trek: Discovery, earns a historic nomination

Michelle Yeoh makes history with her Academy Award nomination.

Fans of Star Trek: Discovery know Michelle Yeoh best as the actor who plays Philippa Georgiou, Empress of the Terran Empire in the Mirror Universe. Yeoh has now earned a historic accolade in another role, in another story about multiple universes.

Nominations for the 95th Academy Awards were announced yesterday. For her role as Evelyn Wang in the popular and critically acclaimed film Everything Everywhere All at Once, Yeoh was nominated as Best Actress in a Leading Role. Born in Malaysia, she is the first Best Actress nominee who identifies as Asian.

In 1936, Merle Oberon, a British-Indian movie star, was nominated for her role in The Dark Angel, but Oberon always hid her biracial parentage for fear racial prejudice would harm her career. The nomination of Michelle Yeohis thus an important and long overdue moment for the Academy Awards.

As Yeoh told The Hollywood Reporter:

"It’s taken a long time. But I think this is more than me. … At the present moment, constantly, all the time, having Asians walking up to me saying, ‘You can do it, you’re doing it for us.’ It’s like, ‘I understand. I totally understand.’ All this time, they’ve not been recognized, they’ve not been heard."

Star Trek fans should see Michelle Yeoh in Everything Everywhere All at Once

Everything Everywhere All at Once helped bring audiences back to movie theaters post-COVID lockdowns last year in a big way. It’s a visually stunning and ambitious spectacle that demanded to be seen on the big screen.

Michelle Yeoh was a great choice to play the movie’s protagonist. Evelyn Wang is a hard-working, weary mother and wife who is suddenly thrust into a wild, dazzling multiverse in which she discovers her life’s seemingly infinite possibilities.

Having played two versions of Philippa Georgiou—not only the Terran Empress but also the late captain of the USS Shenzhou—Michelle Yeoh needed no introduction to the idea of a multiverse. Her sci-fi and fantasy credentials beyond Star Trek are unimpeachable, from the Hugo Award-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the recent Witcher prequel series. And, as Star Trek: Discovery fans know, Yeoh never delivers anything but first-rate performances.

If you’re a Star Trek fan who has not yet seen Everything Everywhere All at Once, you owe it to yourself to do so, whether or not Yeoh wins the Best Actress trophy. And if you’ve already seen the movie, you should see it again. I know I will!