Michelle Yeoh is set to receive the Berlinale’s Honorary Golden Bear, a lifetime achievement award recognising her “outstanding achievements in film and cinema,” becoming the first Asian woman to do so.
At 63, the Malaysian icon continues to carve space for Asian women in global cinema — a journey that reached a watershed moment in 2023 when she became the first Asian woman to win the Best Actress Oscar.
“Michelle Yeoh is a visionary artist and performer whose work defies boundaries ‒ whether geographic, linguistic or cinematic,” Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle said.
For Yeoh, the German capital has long been more than another stop on the festival circuit. “Berlin has always held a special place in my heart,” she said, calling Berlinale “one of the first festivals to embrace my work with such warmth and generosity”. Yeoh previously served on the jury in 1999 and has graced the festival with films spanning her global career, from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon to the multiverse epic Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Read more: Michelle Yeoh and Jon M Chu Praise Singapore at ‘Wicked: For Good’ Premiere
It was the latter that cemented her place in history. Her turn as multiverse-hopping laundromat owner Evelyn Wang earned Yeoh the 2023 Oscar for Best Actress, a moment that reverberated far beyond Hollywood — not just a win, but a breakthrough for Asian representation in Western cinema.
View this post on Instagram
Yeoh’s career stretches back to the 1980s, but her Hollywood breakthrough arrived in 1997, when she became the first ethnic Chinese Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies. She went on to star in Ang Lee’s Oscar-winning Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, the lush period piece Memoirs of a Geisha, and the global box-office hit Crazy Rich Asians, further cementing her status as a cross-cultural icon.
Read more: BLACKPINK and Michelle Yeoh Spotlighted in Fortune’s First-ever Most Influential Women Asia Ranking
Running from 12–22 February, the Berlinale remains Europe’s first major film event of the year, standing alongside Cannes and Venice as one of the continent’s most influential festivals. Last year’s Honorary Golden Bear went to Tilda Swinton, joining a roster of recipients that includes legends like Martin Scorsese and Steven Spielberg.
