Yeoh’s win marks a milestone for Asian stars in Hollywood and helps put Hong Kong films in the limelight more than ever before. After all, it’s where the talented kung fu mistress cut her teeth.

Here’s how her Hong Kong films helped her on her path to the momentous Oscar win:

Everything rises in the East

Michelle Yeoh’s big journey to the Oscars started with her first step in Hong Kong when she was called by businessman Dickson Poon, the co-founder of D&B Films, to shoot a watch advert with Jackie Chan, per Hong Kong media.

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Yeoh, who had won the Miss Malaysia beauty contest, was just a “pretty face” at that time with few acting credentials to her name, but the young rising star wanted to be more than just a beauty on screen, per an interview with The Independent.

She would later marry Dickson Poon, a reported millionaire and entrepreneur behind businesses like Harvey Nichols and Charles Jourdan, in 1988, but divorced after three years. Their marriage ultimately ended due to Yeoh’s inability to conceive, and the two remain on good terms, according to a recent interview with Bustle.

Yeoh’s role saw her beating up her opponents, evading gunfire, shattering glass and jumping over obstacles just like any other male action hero. The film was so well received that it became a classic and Yeoh helped open up a whole subgenre of Hong Kong films known as “girls with guns”, giving way to future female action stars, per Collider.

“I was very lucky because once I started my career in Hong Kong action films, I was embraced very quickly and given amazing opportunities. Then I got married, and when I came back out, my first movie was Supercop, and I couldn’t have asked for more,” she told Bustle.

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Her journey to stardom

In fact, it was Yeoh and her role in Police Story 3: Supercop that became the inspiration for Quentin Tarantino to make his iconic film Kill Bill, per The Independent. With Yeoh taking over Hong Kong films during the 1980s and 1990s, both Malaysia and Hong Kong claimed her as their hometown hero, states The Hollywood Reporter.

Breaking into Hollywood

Thanks to her reputation in Hong Kong films, Hollywood came knocking at her door with an opportunity to save the world with 007 in 1997’s Tomorrow Never Dies alongside Pierce Brosnan. Yeoh broke into the Western world with this film while hailing her own stunt team from Hong Kong, per The Independent.

Yeoh further put Asian film on the map through the masterpiece Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, a film that was a joint effort by Hong Kong, China, Taiwan and America. It became the first foreign language film to break US$100 million in the US, per the same source.

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She maintains her ties to the Fragrant Harbour

And it’s not just films. Yeoh has given back to the Hong Kong community through multiple charity work projects. She constantly donates to the Hong Kong Cancer Fund, per AMFAR, and has also helped raise US$2.75 million for AMFAR’s life-saving Aids research programmes in Hong Kong gala, per Look to the Stars.

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