The Berlin International Film Festival will bestow its 2026 Honorary Golden Bear on Academy Award–winning actress Michelle Yeoh, honoring a remarkable four-decade career. The prize will be presented at the festival’s opening ceremony at the Berlinale Palast on February 12, 2026.
Yeoh’s work spans continents and genres, from Hong Kong action films to Hollywood blockbusters and intimate character dramas. Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle praised her range and longevity, noting that Yeoh began in popular Hong Kong cinema of the 1980s and 1990s and, since the 2000s, has taken on an unusually wide variety of projects, from comedies and big musicals to smaller, personal films.
Yeoh, who served on the Berlinale’s international jury in 1999, said the festival has long meant a great deal to her, recalling Berlin as one of the first festivals to embrace her work. She called the honor a meaningful recognition of her journey in cinema. The Berlinale tribute will be followed by a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on February 18.
Her global profile surged in 2023 when, at age 60, she won major awards for her lead role as Evelyn Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once. She made history as the first Asian woman to take home both a Screen Actors Guild Award and the Academy Award for best actress. In her Oscar acceptance speech she spoke directly to representation and possibility, saying the win was a beacon of hope for young viewers who look like her and urging older women not to accept limits on their ambitions.
Everything Everywhere All at Once casts Yeoh as a beleaguered immigrant laundromat owner who becomes entangled with parallel universes and alternate selves. The role drew on skills Yeoh has honed across decades and underscored her persistence in an industry that has too often offered stereotyped parts to non-white actors.
Born and raised in Malaysia, Yeoh trained as a ballerina at the Royal Academy of Dance in London until a back injury ended that path. In 1983 her mother entered her in the Miss Malaysia/World pageant; after winning, she moved into commercials in Hong Kong — including one with Jackie Chan — and then to feature films. She emerged as a star of 1980s Hong Kong action cinema, performing many of her own stunts in films such as Yes, Madam! (1985), Police Story 3: Supercop (1992) and Holy Weapon (1993).
Early in her career she briefly used the stage name Michelle Khan at the suggestion of a production company, later reverting to her birth name. She stepped away from acting after marrying businessman Dickson Poon in 1987 and returned following their separation in 1992.
Yeoh’s Hollywood breakthrough came in 1997 when she appeared opposite Pierce Brosnan as the ethnic Chinese Bond woman in Tomorrow Never Dies, a role that won her wide visibility. Despite that, she has spoken about enduring casting biases and tokenism in Hollywood that limited opportunities for Asian actors for many years.
A major international turning point arrived with Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), which highlighted her martial arts prowess and brought her global acclaim. Since then her roles have been varied: the refined Mameha in Memoirs of a Geisha (2005); her portrayal of Aung San Suu Kyi in The Lady (2011); a protective matriarchal figure in Crazy Rich Asians (2018); and Madame Morrible in the 2024 musical Wicked and its 2025 follow-up Wicked: For Good. Upcoming projects include a lead role in Ridley Scott’s Prime Video series Blade Runner 2099 and the action thriller The Surgeon.
Yeoh has repeatedly pushed for characters with depth and complexity. She has said that the lead in Everything Everywhere All at Once was originally intended for Jackie Chan; after he declined, the directors reworked the story and made her the central figure. She welcomed the opportunity to portray “a very ordinary woman, an Asian immigrant woman,” navigating problems that resonate broadly.
As part of the Berlinale tribute, the festival will screen Everything Everywhere All at Once on February 13. That screening will be preceded by the world premiere of Sandiwara, a short film by Oscar-winning director Sean Baker (Anora). Set in a Malaysian night market, Sandiwara features Yeoh in five distinct roles and is described as “a bold, immersive celebration of womanhood, cultural identity, culinary heritage and the spirit of independent cinema.”
This profile was originally published on March 9, 2023, and updated on February 11, 2026. Edited by Elizabeth Grenier.