Michelle Yeoh Quotes

India is a great talent pool of actors. I see Freida Pinto making it big in Hollywood, and I am sure many others can also make it.

I believe that the director is really the soul. It is a collaborative effort, but the director is the one who needs to have that vision. It could be a great script, but it starts from there. You need to have good material, at least, but if you don't have someone with vision, it's just words.

When I watch myself on-screen, I always look for the flaws.

Some of the martial arts films, the motivation is about martial arts. That's where it's coming from. It is a visual, commercial film, to showcase the next stunt, the biggest thing. And character development becomes a side thing.

As an actor, you hope to find roles that are challenging to you as an artist. Then if you are truly blessed, you will find that it also carries a message that you can impart to your audience.

Sometimes when I'm on the phone, someone will say, 'Yes, Mr. Yeoh.' And I'm thinking, 'I'm not Mr. Yeoh, man.'

I have done many films across the globe and would love to be a part of Bollywood, but the script must have a strong character for me.

I believe all of us want to do good for our country.

It's our responsibility as filmmakers to tell a story that's a human drama.

In a movie, that's the only time when you're allowed these kind of fantasies to be lived. Being able to look so cool and be able to fight five bad guys and take them down. When can you do that?

I think that learning Burmese has to have been one of the most challenging things that I have had to do for a movie.

Sometimes, being a girl away from home - it gets to you.

The Asia and the Pacific region is facing an epidemic of road death and injury, but we also have innovative Asian road safety solutions.

My career in the movie business began in Hong Kong, my heart has always been tied to Asia, and it is immensely gratifying to see international recognition for Asian cinema as a whole.

If I only get to play Malaysian roles, there wouldn't be very many roles for me to play.

My mother is a very big cinema buff, so as a kid, we watched a lot of Indian and Malay films.

We all learn every day, and that's the magic about film making.

I had an amazing teacher, who was Burmese, and she was living in Paris at the time, and she is one of very few who doesn't actually receive a credit in the film because she still has family over there.

In Europe and America, you never see a director pick up a camera. They all sit behind monitors.

When you love someone, you don't try to change them.

The first one I did was an action film with Sammo Hung and George Lam, but I had the usual female role for that time: you know, damsel in distress, rescued by the hero.

I love action films, and to be able to put together 'Silver Hawk' was so exciting.

I went to the Gobi Desert, even though I had no scenes there. This is the greatness of China, the landscape, even for us.

If you were ever a ballerina, you know the pain: just to be able to look like it's all so light, but when they take off their shoes, it's all bloody.

I stretch and do my squats when I brush my teeth.

My grandmother had flawless skin just from using basic skincare - an old herbal remedy in the form of a white powder and cream. I don't actually know what was in it because when you're young, you're not interested in skincare, and I didn't want to walk around the house with a white face.

When men have a smile on their faces, that does a lot for me.

I was struck by Suu Kyi's warmth and generosity. No matter how petite she looks, she exudes amazing strength. More than anything else, I felt like I already knew her, like she was an old friend, because I'd been watching her so intently, and she was exactly what I had figured she would be.

Martial arts is just practice. Being a geisha requires complete control.

I kick and punch quite hard, and it surprises people.

Acting is not just impersonating your character.

It can only be true love when you enable your other half to be better, to be the person they're destined to be.

As a producer, what you want to do is make the next hit. But you also want to lead the audience into wanting to watch different movies. You have to vary your content.

'The Lady' is an incredible love story about how a family was cut off from each other, about sacrifice, about the ability to put the needs of million of people before your own.

I'm terrible on the phone. I just text my friends and family and say, 'Hey, I'm in town.'

When I made my first film, it was just an adventure. But after my first movie, I guess I got more of a feeling of what was happening around me.

I have been presented with roles with demand not just a physical ability but mental disciplines as well. 'Memoirs of a Geisha' was not so much about physical exertion ... it was much more graceful and contained than that.

If you read a lot of Chinese literature, there has always been very strong women figures - warriors, swordswomen - who defended honor and loyalty with the men. So, it's not new to our culture - it's always been very much a part of it. It's good that now the Western audience would have a different image of the Chinese women.

Unfortunately, many parents reject helmets for their kids out of a mistaken perception that helmets are unsafe for children.

I've taken this year to concentrate fully on the promotion of 'The Lady.' This movie has been so meaningful; until we have premiered in every part of the world and encouraged as many people as possible to shine the spotlight on the Burmese people and Daw Suu, I will not have a next project.

Before you get into the mind, you have to inhabit the physicality. Body language is a great way of speaking.

I don't plan to go out and do action or not do action.

In one take, I had to do 24 combat sequences, which is hard. It makes you think, 'I'd better get on my toes again.'

I have people who love me and people that I love and a man that I love. So in that sense, I feel that I'm pretty well rounded.

I don't like cutting my hair. I did that once, and my mum thought I was a boy.

It's all choreographed; it's a routine. So I told everyone I really wanted to try fighting in action films. I had no stunt experience, but I had the dance background, and I was very agile and coordinated. And the best thing about being a newcomer to acting is you can afford to try new things.

For me, the director is the most important thing. He is steering the boat. If you don't trust him, you won't be able to give him your all.

When someone acknowledges you for something that they think about you, it's a huge compliment.

When a movie becomes very successful, it's automatic that people will start thinking a sequel, a prequel, a quel-quel.

For an actress, everything is always fine - you are looked after, you have your trailer, and everything provided. But the crew are the ones out there in the wilds all the time, hours before and after us.

I love my martial arts and action movies. They give another dimension to the acting world: the emotional plus the physical.

The beauty about being a producer is you sit there, and you explore ideas which become a passion, which slowly becomes a reality.

In many ways, I feel I'm still as physically fit as I was 20 years ago because I've always been athletic.

Movies cater to what the audiences want.

Today, tomorrow and every day, we will see at least 2,000 young children killed or seriously injured on the world's roads. This is unacceptable, preventable, and we have to stop it. We have the vaccines for this disease: helmets, seatbelts, speed enforcement, safe road design. We just need to use them.

Why do we have 'Transformers 5 or 6?' Because young kids will go and see it four or five times.

I always thought of myself as James Bond.

'Crouching Tiger,' of course, was a very dramatic role for me, and the fighting was very serious.

They won't take you seriously because you are a girl. These guys had to understand that you are just as tough as them, and you have to take them on.

It was like baptism by fire. There was no school for studying acting. You just have to take it upon yourself to learn from your peers. It's about opening your eyes, listening, and watching.

Let's empower men and help them take a stand to stop acts of violence against women.

Action shouldn't just be seeing all those crashes. You can blow up a cathedral; next time you blow up the Great Wall of China, and then what? But when you're in love with your characters, the smallest action becomes an important action.

Playing Aung San Suu Kyi was a journey in itself. She represents many things for many people and for many reasons. Although I have played many important roles in my life, I can say that this role has been a journey of self-realisation.

It's so important for me to do my own stunts. The sense of achievement is so immense. But the studios don't want to take the risk.

As producers, we can influence where the budget goes, but only the director really controls what tone, what type of movie you are trying to make.

I grew up in Malaysia, and Bollywood is really big there. As a result, I've grown up watching a lot of Hindi movies.

You never know whether the subject matter will click with the audience at that particular time. I wish there was a formula, you know, 'That plus that equals success.'

I gravitate towards roles where women find strength in very difficult, uncompromising situations but maintain clarity in mind, discipline at heart, and a certain strength in spirit.

We have to make movies where we do not think this is for the American market or this is for the Chinese market. We have to make a good movie that anyone would just want to sit down and watch because love, language, culture transcend everything.

San Suu's story will always involve politics, but the essence is the love story.

Wai Lin is the first Bond Girl who is on a par with Bond, someone who can match up with him mentally and physically. From the moment our characters see each other, there is a wariness and a recognition that this person is not who she or he seems to be.

You have to have integrity.

For me, beauty comes from natural happiness. I think that a woman glows, and a man, even, when they're healthy and they're happy.

Jackie Chan is like a big bro to me.

When you're a teenager, you could do a lot more crazy things, and your body recovers faster.

Playing a sinner is very liberating!

Body language is more fascinating to me than actual language.