2022 is shaping up to be a very good year for Michelle Yeoh. She toplined the critical and commercial hit “Everything Everywhere All at Once” — which has become A24’s highest-grossing film to date — and will be presented with an honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts by the AFI this Saturday, August 13. Now there’s word the veteran actress will receive the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s (SBIFF) 15th annual Kirk Douglas Award for Excellence in Film. Yeoh will honored at a Black-Tie dinner in Santa Barbara on December 9, a press release announced.
This will be the first time the Kirk Douglas Award is presented since its namesake’s death in 2020. Benefitting SBIFF’s educational programs, the prize’s past recipients include Jessica Lange and Judi Dench.
“A well-deserved honor for the legendary and multi-talented Michelle Yeoh,” said Michael Douglas, son of Kirk Douglas. “She has been entertaining and thrilling us in films since the 1980s … AND she does her own stunts! Bravo Michelle!”
Born in Malaysia, Yeoh “rose to fame in 1990s Hong Kong action films before going on to shatter convention and star in a myriad of globally acclaimed blockbusters,” the source notes. Her many renowned credits include “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” “Tomorrow Never Dies,” “Sunshine,” “Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings,” and “Crazy Rich Asians.” The latter is “the highest-grossing romantic comedy in the U.S. in the past 10 years.”
Yeoh has also acted in the likes of “Star Trek: Discovery,” “Strike Back,” “Kung Fu Panda 2,” and “Last Christmas.” She nabbed a BAFTA nomination for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon,” a Hollywood Critics Association Award for “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” and National Board of Review Award for “Crazy Rich Asians.” You can see Yeoh next in October’s Netflix fantasy pic “The School for Good and Evil” and December’s “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
SBIFF 2023 will take place February 8-18.
