Michelle Yeoh Makes Oscar History As The First Asian Woman To Win Best Actress

By Pamela Connellan
on 13 March 2023

That’s right – Michelle Yeoh has won the Best Actress Oscar at the Oscars 2023 – making her the first Asian woman to ever win this award in the 95 years the Academy Awards have been running. When Yeoh accepted the Oscar, she said: “Thank you to the Academy. This is history in the making. Thank you.”

The Oscars is regarded by many as the most prestigious event in the film industry and it was held at the Dolby Theatre in Los Angeles with comedian, Jimmy Kimmel, as the host. This year the competition was fierce, with impressive contenders in each category.

But the one film which swept the Academy Awards this year was the movie Michelle Yeoh starred in – Everything Everywhere All at Once. This film is about a Chinese-American immigrant (played by Michelle) who discovers she has to connect with parallel universe versions of herself to prevent a powerful being from destroying the multiverse.

Michelle started her acceptance speech, she said: “For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dreams — dream big, and dreams do come true. And ladies, don’t let anybody tell you you are ever past your prime. Never give up.”

Everything Everywhere All at Once won a raft of other Oscars as well including: Best Supporting Actress; Best Original Screenplay; Best Supporting Actor; Best Film Editing; Best Actress; Best Director; and Best Picture.

As well, All Quiet on the Western Front took home four awards including: Best Original Score; Best Cinematography; Best International Feature; and Best Production Design.

One of the popular winners was Brendan Fraser who won Best Actor for the film Whale. And of course Top Gun: Maverick won the award for Best Sound.

The host, Jimmy Kimmel roasted Will Smith as he joked about what happened last year when
Will Smith slapped Chris Rock and then went on to win Best Actor.

Here’s our list of each Oscar for 2023 and who it went to – as determined by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences:

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Angela Bassett
The Whale — Hong Chau
The Banshees of Inisherin — Kerry Condon
WINNER Everything Everywhere All at Once — Jamie Lee Curtis
Everything Everywhere All at Once — Stephanie Hsu

BEST COSTUME DESIGN

Babylon — Mary Zophres
WINNER Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Ruth Carter
Elvis — Catherine Martin
Everything Everywhere All at Once — Shirley Kurata
Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris — Jenny Beavan

BEST SOUND

All Quiet on the Western Front — Viktor Prášil, Frank Kruse, Markus Stemler, Lars Ginzel, and Stefan Korte
Avatar: The Way of Water — Julian Howarth, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle, Dick Bernstein, Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, and Michael Hedges
The Batman — Stuart Wilson, William Files, Douglas Murray, and Andy Nelson
Elvis — David Lee, Wayne Pashley, Andy Nelson,  and Michael Keller
WINNER Top Gun: Maverick — Mark Weingarten, James H. Mather, Al Nelson, Chris Burdon, and Mark Taylor

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE

WINNER All Quiet on the Western Front — Volker Bertelmann
Babylon — Justin Hurwitz
The Banshees of Inisherin — Carter Burwell
Everything Everywhere All at Once — Son Lux
The Fabelmans — John Williams

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY

WINNER Women Talking  — Sarah Polley
All Quiet on the Western Front — Edward Berger, Lesley Paterson, and Ian Stokell
Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery — Rian Johnson
Living — Kazuo Ishiguro
Top Gun: Maverick — Ehren Kruger, Eric Warren Singer, Christopher Mcquarrie, Peter Craig, and Justin Marks

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY

The Banshees of Inisherin — Martin McDonagh
WINNER Everything Everywhere All at Once — Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
The Fabelmans — Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner
Tár — Todd Field
Triangle of Sadness — Ruben Östlund

BEST ANIMATED SHORT

WINNER The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse — Charlie Mackesy and Matthew Freud
The Flying Sailor  — Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby
Ice Merchants  — João Gonzalez and Bruno Caetano
My Year of Dicks  — Sara Gunnarsdóttir and Pamela Ribon
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It  — Lachlan Pendragon

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT

WINNER An Irish Goodbye — Tom Berkeley and Ross White
Ivalu — Anders Walter and Rebecca Pruzan
Le Pupille — Alice Rohrwacher and Alfonso Cuarón
Night Ride — Eirik Tveiten and Gaute Lid Larssen
The Red Suitcase — Cyrus Neshvad

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR

The Banshees of Inisherin — Brendan Gleeson
Causeway — Brian Tyree Henry
The Fabelmans — Judd Hirsch
The Banshees of Inisherin — Barry Keoghan
WINNER Everything Everywhere All at Once — Ke Huy Quan

BEST FILM EDITING

The Banshees of Inisherin — Mikkel E.G. Nielsen
Elvis — Matt Villa and Jonathan Redmond
WINNER Everything Everywhere All at Once — Paul Rogers
Tár — Monika Willi
Top Gun: Maverick — Eddie Hamilton

BEST MAKEUP & HAIRSTYLING

All Quiet on the Western Front — Heike Merker and Linda Eisenhamerová
The Batman — Naomi Donne, Mike Marino, and Mike Fontaine
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Camille Friend and Joel Harlow
Elvis — Mark Coulier, Jason Baird, and Aldo Signoretti
WINNER The Whale — Adrien Morot, Judy Chin, and Anne Marie Bradley

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE

Puss in Boots: The Last Wish — Joel Crawford and Mark Swift
The Sea Beast — Chris Williams and Jed Schlanger
Turning Red  — Domee Shi and Lindsey Collins
WINNER Guillermo Del Toro’s Pinocchio — Guillermo Del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar, and Alex Bulkley
Marcel the Shell With Shoes on — Dean Fleischer Camp, Elisabeth Holm, Andrew Goldman, Caroline Kaplan, and Paul Mezey

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE

All That Breathes — Shaunak Sen, Aman Mann, and Teddy Leifer
All The Beauty and the Bloodshed — Laura Poitras, Howard Gertler, John Lyons, Nan Goldin, and Yoni Golijov
Fire of Love — Sara Dosa, Shane Boris, and Ina Fichman
A House Made of Splinters — Simon Lereng Wilmont and Monica Hellström
WINNER Navalny — Daniel Roher, Odessa Rae, Diane Becker, Melanie Miller, and Shane Boris

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT

WINNER The Elephant Whisperers — Kartiki Gonsalves and Guneet Monga
Haulout — Evgenia Arbugaeva and Maxim Arbugaev
How Do You Measure a Year? — Jay Rosenblatt
The Martha Mitchell Effect — Anne Alvergue and Beth Levison
Stranger at the Gate — Joshua Seftel and Conall Jones

BEST ORIGINAL SONG

‘Applause’ from Tell It like a Woman — Diane Warren
‘Hold My Hand’ from Top Gun: Maverick — Lady Gaga and BloodPop
‘Lift Me Up’ from Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Tems, Rihanna, Ryan Coogler, and Ludwig Goransson
WINNER ‘Naatu Naatu’ from RRR — M.M. Keeravaani and Chandrabose
‘This Is a Life’ from Everything Everywhere All at Once — Ryan Lott, David Byrne, and Mitski

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY

WINNER All Quiet on the Western Front — James Friend
Elvis — Mandy Walker
Empire of Light — Roger Deakins
Tár — Florian Hoffmeister
Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths — Darius Khondji

BEST INTERNATIONAL FEATURE

Argentina, 1985 — Argentina
Close — Belgium
Eo — Poland
The Quiet Girl — Ireland
WINNER All Quiet on the Western Front — Germany

BEST PRODUCTION DESIGN

Avatar: The Way of Water — Dylan Cole, Ben Procter, and Vanessa Cole
Babylon — Florencia Martin and Anthony Carlino
Elvis — Catherine Martin, Karen Murphy, and Bev Dunn
WINNER All Quiet on the Western Front — Christian M. Goldbeck and Ernestine Hipper
The Fabelmans — Rick Carter and Karen O’Hara

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS

WINNER Avatar: The Way of Water — Dylan Cole, Ben Procter, and Vanessa Cole
The Batman — Joe Letteri, Richard Baneham, Eric Saindon, and Daniel Barrett
Black Panther: Wakanda Forever — Geoffrey Baumann, Craig Hammack, R. Christopher White, and Dan Sudick
Top Gun: Maverick — Ryan Tudhope, Seth Hill, Bryan Litson, and Scott R. Fisher
All Quiet on the Western Front — Frank Petzold, Viktor Müller, Markus Frank, and Kamil Jafar

BEST ACTRESS

Blonde — Ana De Armas
Tár — Cate Blanchett
To Leslie — Andrea Riseborough
WINNER Everything Everywhere All at Once — Michelle Yeoh
The Fabelmans — Michelle Williams

BEST ACTOR

Elvis — Austin Butler
Living — Bill Nighy
Aftersun  — Paul Mescal
WINNER The Whale — Brendan Fraser
The Banshees of Inisherin — Colin Farrell

BEST DIRECTOR

The Fabelmans — Steven Spielberg
Tár — Todd Field
Triangle of Sadness — Ruben Östlund
WINNER Everything Everywhere All at Once — Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert
The Banshees of Inisherin — Martin McDonagh

BEST PICTURE

WINNER Everything Everywhere All at Once
Top Gun: Maverick
Elvis
Tár
Avatar: The Way of Water
The Banshees of Inisherin
All Quiet on the Western Front
The Fabelmans
Women Talking
Triangle of Sadness

For more information on the Oscars, visit here.

For more from Women Love Tech on movies and streaming, visit here.

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