Time named Michelle Yeoh its 2022 Icon of the Year on Tuesday, highlighting her storied 40-year acting career that includes this year's "Everything Everywhere All at Once." Yeoh is a favorite for an Oscar nomination for her performance in the well-received surreal action-drama. She had been named to Time's 100 Most Influential People of 2022 list earlier this year. During her career, Yeoh told Time that she had to "battle" a Hollywood that offered her parts that were stereotypes of Asians or harmful tropes of Asian women.Years before landing her first Hollywood role, Yeoh, 60, was already a movie icon in Asia. She had starred in popular Hong Kong action films throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, becoming famous for doing her own stunts.Yeoh then crossed over to American cinema with the 1997 James Bond film "Tomorrow Never Dies," in which she plays Bond's equal. She continued to win over American audiences with her supporting roles in "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," "The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor," "Kung Fu Panda 2," several Marvel films and "Crazy Rich Asians." It wasn't until this last year that Hollywood began to recognize her as a top-billed actor, seen for her acting abilities beyond what white audiences expect of Asian performers. In "Everything Everywhere All at Once" she starred as Evelyn Quan Wang, the universe-jumping owner of a struggling laundromat.Yeoh said her role as Evelyn "was something I had been waiting for for a long time," to show audiences "what I am capable of."
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