Michelle Yeoh Choo-Kheng (born 6 August 1963) is a Hong Kong

Hong Kong

Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...

-based Malaysian Chinese

Malaysian Chinese

Malaysian Chinese is a Malaysian of Chinese origin. Most are descendants of Chinese who arrived between the fifteenth and the mid-twentieth centuries. Within Malaysia, they are usually simply referred to as "Chinese" in all languages. The term Chinese Malaysian is also sometimes used to refer to...

 actress, well known for performing her own stunts in the action films

Hong Kong action cinema

Hong Kong action cinema is the principal source of the Hong Kong film industry's global fame. It combines elements from the action film, as codified by Hollywood, with Chinese storytelling and aesthetic traditions, to create a culturally distinctive form that nevertheless has a wide transcultural...

 that brought her to fame in the early 1990s.

Born in Ipoh

Ipoh

Ipoh is the capital city of Perak state, Malaysia. It is approximately 200 km north of Kuala Lumpur on the North-South Expressway....

, Malaysia, she is based in Hong Kong and was chosen by People magazine

People (magazine)

In 1998, the magazine introduced a version targeted at teens called Teen People. However, on July 27, 2006, the company announced it would shut down publication of Teen People immediately. The last issue to be released was scheduled for September 2006. Subscribers to this magazine received...

as one of the 50 Most Beautiful People in the World in 1997.

She is best known in the Western world for her roles in the 1997 James Bond

James Bond

James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...

 film Tomorrow Never Dies

Tomorrow Never Dies

Tomorrow Never Dies is the eighteenth spy film in the James Bond series, and the second to star Pierce Brosnan as the fictional MI6 agent James Bond. Bruce Feirstein wrote the screenplay, and it was directed by Roger Spottiswoode. It follows Bond as he tries to stop a media mogul from engineering...

, playing Wai Lin

Wai Lin

Colonel Wai Lin is a fictional character in the 1997 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, portrayed by Michelle Yeoh.-Biography:Wai Lin , a spy for the Chinese People's External Security Force, is a formidable opponent, a fierce warrior with incredible skill in martial arts...

, and the multiple Academy Award-winning Chinese-language martial arts film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is a 2000 wuxia film. An American-Chinese-Hong Kong-Taiwanese co-production, the film was directed by Ang Lee and featured an international cast of ethnic Chinese actors, including Chow Yun-Fat, Michelle Yeoh, Zhang Ziyi, and Chang Chen...

, for which she was nominated the BAFTA

British Academy Film Awards

The British Academy Film Awards are presented in an annual award show hosted by the British Academy of Film and Television Arts . It is the British counterpart of the Oscars. As of 2008, it has taken place in the Royal Opera House, having taken over from the flagship Odeon cinema on Leicester Square...

for "Best Actress".