Performer
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio rank
#1189
of 909177 performers
Top 1%
Michelle Yeoh represents the rare performer whose career became more ambitious with every decade — 46 years in, and Michelle is still choosing the harder script.
The essay
Our editors on the work, the patterns and the reason this body of work holds together.
Michelle Yeoh appears in 38 films in the Nutevio catalogue, and none of them would work the same way without Michelle. Wicked: One Wonderful Night is the clearest case: a film rated 8.2 by our editors, where the performance carries weight the script only implies.
The recognisable elements are versatility, transformation, quiet performance. Watch two of these films back to back and the method separates from the material — the same instrument, tuned differently for action, science fiction, adventure. It is a style built on what is withheld as much as what is played.
Working with James Cameron, Jon M. Chu, Olatunde Osunsanmi and others, Michelle Yeoh helped set a standard other performers now audition against. Awards bodies have been slower than the work, which is usually the sign of a career built on choices rather than campaigns.
Wicked: One Wonderful Night (2025) as Self · Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) as Evelyn Wang · Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017) as Aleta Ogord
Career snapshot
Ranked #1189 of 909177 performers tracked in the Nutevio library.
Films in Nutevio
38
1985–2031
Career length
46 yrs
Measured across our catalogue
Academy Awards
—
Unknown
Oscar nominations
—
Unknown
Highest Nutevio score
8.2
Wicked: One Wonderful Night
Average Nutevio score
6.3
Across catalogue work
Highest IMDb rating
8.2
Wicked: One Wonderful Night
Most frequent director
Jon M. Chu
3 films together
Longest collaboration
3×
With Jon M. Chu
Most common genre
Action
21 titles
Average runtime
1h 42m
Across catalogue work
Golden Globe wins
—
Unknown
Nutevio metric
Ten weighted categories, applied identically to everyone we cover.
Nutevio Performer Score
7.0
out of 10
A performer whose catalogue work here is strong, with the fuller case still to be made.
Nutevio metric
Cultural impact and legacy, measured separately from craft — how far the work travelled once it left the cinema.
Nutevio Influence Score
6.7
out of 10
A quieter influence — felt inside the films rather than across the industry.
How far the work travelled past the people who saw it first.
What survives once the release-week conversation has burned off.
Institutional acknowledgement, weighted but never decisive.
Years of chosen, relevant work rather than years merely employed.
Statuettes, read as evidence rather than verdict.
Roles named without needing the film named alongside them.
Directors who wrote parts because this performer existed.
The reading other performers now have to answer.
Actor DNA
A fingerprint derived from the roles themselves — register, range and the kind of film they carry.
The shape of a career
Every performance plotted in time. Hover a point to read the title behind it.
Peak years
Where the scores, the awards and the sheer volume of work agree with each other.
Best decade
1990s
6.8 average MV
The 1990s are where the work and the material meet. Tomorrow Never Dies, Tai-Chi Master, Police Story 3: Super Cop — the run our editors reach for first when the argument is about range rather than fame.
Highest average Nutevio score
1990s
6.8
Across 3 catalogue films in this decade, our scores never drop below the level a career is judged on.
Highest average IMDb rating
1990s
6.8
The public agrees most strongly about this stretch — useful context, and occasionally a decade behind our own reading.
Most awarded era
1980s
0 Academy Awards
Statuettes for the films themselves, which is the honest way to read an ensemble career. Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars.
Most productive era
2020s
18 films
The busiest stretch of the catalogue — volume that reads as appetite rather than availability.
Range, mapped
Genres down the side, decades across the top. Warmer cells mean stronger titles.
| Genre | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s | 2010s | 2020s | 2030s |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Drama | — | 7.21 film | 7.34 films | 6.82 films | 6.43 films | — |
| Action | 6.51 film | 6.83 films | 6.54 films | 6.94 films | 5.98 films | 0.01 film |
| Thriller | — | 6.83 films | 6.32 films | 5.92 films | 6.63 films | — |
| Comedy | 6.51 film | 7.21 film | — | 7.13 films | 6.84 films | — |
| Crime | — | 6.91 film | — | 6.32 films | 6.73 films | — |
| Romance | — | — | 7.52 films | 7.22 films | 6.82 films | — |
| Horror | — | — | 7.01 film | 5.81 film | — | — |
Chronology
Firsts and peaks
The turning points, in the order they happened.
First film in Nutevio
1985Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars
Where our catalogue meets this career, as Judo Instructor.
Highest rated performance · Career peak
2025Wicked: One Wonderful Night
8.2 on the Nutevio scale, the top of the catalogue for this performer. Weighing billing against the film's own quality, this is the point where everything aligned at once.
Most recent film
2031Avatar 5
The current state of the argument, as Dr. Karina Mogue.
Our order
Every performance in the catalogue, ordered by Nutevio Score.
Every title
Filter by genre or decade, and compare any two titles side by side.
38 of 38 films
as Evelyn Wang
Directed by Daniel Kwan
as Mameha
Directed by Rob Marshall
as Yu Shu Lien
Directed by Ang Lee
as Santa
Directed by Paul Feig
From the library
Every movie and TV credit stored for this name in the Nutevio catalogue — filter by media, role or sort by rating.
Loading credits…
The defining work
#1
Self
Wicked: One Wonderful Night (2025)
Performance score8.4
The performance the rest of the career is read through. Self gives Michelle Yeoh a structure to work against, and the film hands over its centre of gravity without hesitation.
View movie#2
Evelyn Wang
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
Performance score8.3
Everything Everywhere All at Once asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Evelyn Wang is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#3
Mameha
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
Performance score7.9
Memoirs of a Geisha asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Mameha is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movie#4
Yu Shu Lien
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
Performance score7.7
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon asks for something the previous films did not, and gets it. Yu Shu Lien is played without a single line of pleading for the audience's sympathy — which is exactly why it lands.
View movieStart here
A guided path through the work, ordered so each film explains the next.
Best entry point
as Self
Start here. Wicked: One Wonderful Night is the clearest statement of what Michelle Yeoh does — accessible, 84 minutes, and rated 8.2 by our editors. No context required.
Our editors order this path by accessibility first and chronology second. You meet Michelle at the most legible performance, then move forward in time so each film reads as a response to the one before it rather than a repetition of it.
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000)
A deliberate change of key after Wicked: One Wonderful Night — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Memoirs of a Geisha (2005)
Keeps the romance register of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon but asks for a colder reading of it.
Last Christmas (2019)
Keeps the romance register of Memoirs of a Geisha but asks for a colder reading of it.
Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022)
A deliberate change of key after Last Christmas — same instrument, unfamiliar tuning, and the reason range gets mentioned.
Company kept
The directors and performers this career keeps returning to.
Jon M. Chu
Director
3 films together
Notably Crazy Rich Asians
Roger Spottiswoode
Director
2 films together
Notably The Children of Huang Shi
Yuen Woo-ping
Director
2 films together
Notably Tai-Chi Master
Paul Feig
Director
2 films together
Notably Last Christmas
James Cameron
Director
2 films together
Notably Avatar 5
Sammo Hung Kam-Bo
Director
1 film together
Notably Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Stars
Stanley Tong Gwai-Lai
Director
1 film together
Notably Police Story 3: Super Cop
Ang Lee
Director
1 film together
Notably Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Rob Marshall
Director
1 film together
Notably Memoirs of a Geisha
Ronny Yu
Director
1 film together
Notably Fearless
Danny Boyle
Director
1 film together
Notably Sunshine
Rob Cohen
Director
1 film together
Notably The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor
Mathieu Kassovitz
Director
1 film together
Notably Babylon A.D.
Jennifer Yuh Nelson
Director
1 film together
Notably Kung Fu Panda 2
Luke Scott
Director
1 film together
Notably Morgan
Dennis Gansel
Director
1 film together
Notably Mechanic: Resurrection
James Gunn
Director
1 film together
Notably Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Joe Carnahan
Director
1 film together
Notably Boss Level
Destin Daniel Cretton
Director
1 film together
Notably Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings
Chris Bailey
Director
1 film together
Notably Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
Kyle Balda
Director
1 film together
Notably Minions: The Rise of Gru
Daniel Kwan
Director
1 film together
Notably Everything Everywhere All at Once
Kenneth Branagh
Director
1 film together
Notably A Haunting in Venice
Steven Caple Jr.
Director
1 film together
Notably Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Paul Dugdale
Director
1 film together
Notably Wicked: One Wonderful Night
Olatunde Osunsanmi
Director
1 film together
Notably Star Trek: Section 31
Behind the camera
Who casts this performer, how often, and what the pairing produces.
Jon M. Chu
Director
3 films together · 6.9 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 3 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Crazy Rich AsiansPaul Feig
Director
2 films together · 7.1 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Last ChristmasYuen Woo-ping
Director
2 films together · 6.8 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Tai-Chi MasterRoger Spottiswoode
Director
2 films together · 6.6 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
The Children of Huang ShiJames Cameron
Director
2 films together · 0.0 avg MV
A working relationship rather than a booking — 2 films, and the register shifts each time.
Best film together
Avatar 5Paul Dugdale
Director
1 film together · 8.2 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Wicked: One Wonderful NightDaniel Kwan
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Everything Everywhere All at OnceJames Gunn
Director
1 film together · 7.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2Rob Marshall
Director
1 film together · 7.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Memoirs of a GeishaDestin Daniel Cretton
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten RingsRonny Yu
Director
1 film together · 7.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
FearlessAng Lee
Director
1 film together · 7.4 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Crouching Tiger, Hidden DragonSteven Caple Jr.
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Transformers: Rise of the BeastsKyle Balda
Director
1 film together · 7.3 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Minions: The Rise of GruJennifer Yuh Nelson
Director
1 film together · 7.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Kung Fu Panda 2Danny Boyle
Director
1 film together · 7.0 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
SunshineJoe Carnahan
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Boss LevelStanley Tong Gwai-Lai
Director
1 film together · 6.9 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Police Story 3: Super CopKenneth Branagh
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
A Haunting in VeniceChris Bailey
Director
1 film together · 6.6 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Paws of Fury: The Legend of HankSammo Hung Kam-Bo
Director
1 film together · 6.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky StarsDennis Gansel
Director
1 film together · 6.1 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Mechanic: ResurrectionLuke Scott
Director
1 film together · 5.8 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
MorganMathieu Kassovitz
Director
1 film together · 5.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Babylon A.D.Rob Cohen
Director
1 film together · 5.5 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon EmperorOlatunde Osunsanmi
Director
1 film together · 4.7 avg MV
One film, but the kind that reorganises how a performer is cast afterwards.
Best film together
Star Trek: Section 31Six degrees
Follow the thread outward — director, film, co-star, and the film after that.
Categories of our own
Six editorial categories we apply to every performer we cover.
Most rewatchable
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
as Aleta Ogord
The one that survives a fourth viewing. Nothing in the performance depends on surprise, which is why it keeps paying out.
Most emotional performance
Memoirs of a Geisha
as Mameha
Grief played at conversational volume. The film never asks the audience to cry; the performance simply makes it difficult not to.
Most influential performance
Wicked: One Wonderful Night
as Self
You can hear this reading in other actors' auditions a decade later — the surest measure of influence there is.
Best ensemble performance
Iron Fists and Kung Fu Kicks
as Self (archive footage)
Work that makes everyone else in the frame better without ever pulling the camera towards itself.
Career defining performance
Wicked: One Wonderful Night
as Self
If the career had to be argued in a single scene, our editors would pick one from this film and rest the case.
In their films' words
“You can build a whole film around a performer who knows when not to speak. Michelle Yeoh has known it for a long time.”
Head to head
Put two careers on the same scale and see where the argument actually sits.
Ours alone
Recognitions handed out by this desk, on criteria no awards body uses.
Career Achievement
Awarded
46 years of relevant work — not merely a long career, but a long career of choices.
Modern Classic Performer
Awarded
Defining performances delivered inside the last twenty-five years, in films already being taught rather than merely remembered.
Action Legend
Awarded
21 catalogue titles in action, each one a reference point for the films that followed.
Our desk
Best ending, best opening, best twist and the rest — categories we apply to everyone we cover.
Best ending
Wicked: One Wonderful Night
as Self
The last five minutes reorganise everything before them, and hold up when you already know what's coming.
Best opening
Everything Everywhere All at Once
as Evelyn Wang
A first sequence that states the rules of the film without explaining a single one of them.
Most emotional
Wicked: For Good
as Madame Morrible
The film where the technique steps aside and lets the feeling arrive undefended.
Best twist
A Haunting in Venice
as Joyce Reynolds
A reversal earned by information the film gave you and trusted you to misread.
Best visual achievement
Everything Everywhere All at Once
as Evelyn Wang
Images that would survive with the sound switched off.
Best action sequence
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
as Airazor (voice)
Geography, stakes and consequence held in the same frame — spectacle you can follow.
Best dialogue
Paws of Fury: The Legend of Hank
as Yuki (voice)
Lines written to be spoken, staged so the pauses do half the work.
Most underrated film
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
as Aleta Ogord
The public vote sits below ours on this one, and the direction is the reason for the gap.
If you like this performer
Matt Damon
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Michael Caine
Built a career in the same territory: adventure and drama
Tom Hanks
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
Bonnie Hunt
Built a career in the same territory: animation and family
David Krumholtz
Built a career in the same territory: action and adventure
Cillian Murphy
Built a career in the same territory: drama and history
Have your say
Community
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