Berlinale 2026 honors Michelle Yeoh, icon of cinema

The Berlin International Film Festival is awarding the 2026 Honorary Golden Bear to Academy Award–winning actress Michelle Yeoh, in recognition of her outstanding achievements in film and cinema.

The award will be presented at the opening ceremony at the Berlinale Palast on February 12, 2026.

Considered one of the most versatile and influential actors of her generation, Yeoh’s career spans four decades and multiple continents. 

“She’s Malaysian, but the beginning of her career was in Hong Kong — popular cinema of the 80s and 90s. Since the 2000s, she’s been making such an interesting range of work, from comedies and big blockbusters such as ‘Wicked’ to smaller, more personal dramas as well,” Berlinale director Tricia Tuttle told DW.

Having served as a member of the Berlinale International Jury in 1999, Yeoh says: “Berlin has always held a special place in my heart. It was one of the first festivals to embrace my work with such warmth and generosity. Returning after all these years, in recognition of my journey in cinema, feels truly meaningful.”

Female actors never ‘past your prime’ 

In 2023, then-60-year-old Yeoh made headlines — and history — after receiving a slew of awards for playing Evelyn Wang in the hit film “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

She became the first Asian woman to win both a SAG award and an Oscar for best actress in a lead role.

“For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof to dream big and dreams do come true,” said Yeoh as she accepted her Oscar.

She was already noted as the first “Asian-identifying Oscar nominee,” a distinction made because she was preceded by “The Dark Angel” lead Merle Oberon, who was nominated in 1935 without winning — and reportedly hid her South Asian heritage.

Yeoh’s winning streak also made her a role model for people of color, Asians and women, especially elder ones — an aspect to which she also alluded to in her 2023 Oscars speech: “Ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you’re ever past your prime.”

In “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” Yeoh plays a harried immigrant wife and mother facing an Inland Revenue Service (IRS) audit of the family laundromat.

Things change when she discovers that there are multiple versions of the universe — and herself — and they’re all facing a threat that only her current avatar can stop. Thus she finds herself surfing parallel realities and picking up skills honed by different versions of herself.

Besides showcasing credentials gleaned from 40 years of acting, the film’s success reflected Yeoh’s own tenacity in an industry that has often written stereotypical tropes for non-white actors.

Yeoh: from ballerina to beauty queen

Michelle Yeoh never aimed to become an actor. Born and raised in Malaysia, she wanted to become a ballerina and was enrolled at the Royal Academy of Dance in London, until a back injury ended her ambitions.

Then in 1983 her mother, Janet, entered her in the Miss Malaysia/World pageant without her prior knowledge. She went on to win the contest. This soon led to appearances in Hong Kong commercials. Her first one was for Guy Laroche watches, with none other than the world-famous martial arts actor Jackie Chan.

Film offers followed and she rose to prominence in the 1980s starring in a series of Hong Kong action and martial arts films where she performed her own stunts, such as “Yes, Madam!” (1985), “Police Story 3: Supercop” (1992) and “Holy Weapon” (1993).

In an era pre-dating the promotion of diversity and representation, she had originally worked under the stage name Michelle Khan — instead of her maiden name, Yeoh. This alias was chosen by film production house D&B Films based on the belief that “Khan” would resonate better with international and western audiences. She later reverted to her own name.

Between Hong Kong and Hollywood

She briefly retired from acting in 1987 after marrying Hong Kong businessman Dickson Poon, who incidentally co-founded D&B Films, but resumed her career after they separated in 1992.

She got her Hollywood break in 1997 when she was cast opposite Pierce Brosnan’s James Bond in “Tomorrow Never Dies” as the first ethnic Chinese Bond girl.

In 2010, Entertainment Weekly ranked her as the seventh best Bond girl, calling the “savvy Chinese agent” one of the few “wom[e]n of color to match wits with 007” and “the first one you could take seriously.”

Yet despite breaking the mold of a typical Bond girl, Yeoh didn’t work for two years after that as Hollywood kept offering her roles of “fragile Asian women.”

In a 2018 interview with GQ, she recalled: “When I first came to do movies here, I remember very specifically someone said, ‘If we cast an African-American lead, there’s no way we can cast you, because we can’t have two minorities.'” 

Geisha, Nobel laureate, metaverse surfer: Yeoh has portrayed them all

In an interview with TIME on the occasion of the magazine’s nomination of Yeoh as its “Icon of The Year 2022,” she elaborated that Asian actors have long been given stereotypical or inconsequential roles, and rarely top billing.

“It shouldn’t be about my race, but it has been a battle,” she said. “At least let me try.”

Her break-through came with Ang Lee’s “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” in 2000, where her martial arts background came to the fore.

Since then, she has played the regal Mameha in “Memoirs of a Geisha” (2005), was a dead ringer for Nobel Peace prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in “The Lady” (2011), an exacting Asian mother in “Crazy Rich Asians” (2018), as well as Madame Morrible in “Wicked” (2024) and “Wicked: For Good” (2025).

Upcoming stints include a lead role in Ridley Scott’s Prime Video series “Blade Runner 2099” and in the action thriller “The Surgeon.”

Top billing had eluded her until her role as Evelyn in “Everything Everywhere All at Once.”

In a CNN interview in February 2023, Yeoh revealed that the role was in fact intended for Jackie Chan and she was slated to play his wife. But after Chan turned down the offer, the film’s directors role-reversed the story, making Yeoh the lead character.

“It was so overwhelming at that point to get a script that said, ‘This is a very ordinary woman, an Asian immigrant woman, who is dealing with all the problems that we all can relate to,'” she said.

A new short film by ‘Anora’ director Sean Baker

On February 13, as part of the Berlinale’s tribute to Michelle Yeoh, the festival is holding a screening of “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” It will be preceded by the world premiere of the short film “Sandiwara,” directed by Sean Baker, the Oscar-winning director of “Anora.” 

In the short film set in a Malaysian night market, Yeoh portrays five separate characters — another demonstration of her multifaceted acting. 

“Sandiwara” 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 was updated on February 11, 2026. 

Edited by: Elizabeth Grenier