Everything Everywhere All at Once’s Michelle Yeoh gives a powerful speech for her historic Best Actress win

We finally live in a universe where Michelle Yeoh is an Oscar-winning actor.

The star of Everything Everywhere Everything at once triumphantly took the stage for her performance in the lead role of Evelyn Wang, claiming the third of three major acting awards for which the film was nominated.

“For all the little boys and girls watching tonight like me, this is a beacon of hope and possibility,” Yeoh said in her acceptance speech. “This is proof that dreams come true. And ladies… don’t let anyone tell you you’re past your peak.”

Yeoh victory makes Everything Everywhere Everything at once only the third film in Oscars history to win three of the four major acting awards – the previous being Sidney Lumet’s Network and that of Elia Kazan A streetcar named Desire. The win is even more historic for the Academy as it marks the first time an Asian actress has won the award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.

It was a long time coming. With a career spanning nearly 40 years in film, Yeoh began as an action star in Hong Kong in the 1990s and collaborated with Jackie Chan in international hits such as Super agent (AKA Police story 3) before jumping to Hollywood movie as Chinese spy Wai Lin in the 1997 Bond film Tomorrow never dies.

A gifted artist known for both her dramatic work and stunt skills in martial arts films, Yeoh would continue to star in films from both Hollywood and overseas, her profile slowly growing until the huge success of 2018’s Crazy rich Asianswhere Yeoh played family matriarch and primary antagonist Eleanor Young.

Everything Everywhere Everything at once was nominated for 11 Oscars tonight.