The Year of YEOH

She's been a beauty queen and an action hero, but now with the awards buzz of Everything Everywhere All at Once and that Avatar sequel on the horizon, Michelle Yeoh finds herself at the zenith of the Hollywood firmament. It's no surprise if you've been paying attention.

-  AMY NICHOLSON

Michelle Yeoh strides through the world like a woman who has never been hurt. This is not the case. In her nearly four decades as an actor Yeoh has been punched and kicked, and bruised so badly that one time a director thought she had smudged her hands with dirt. She has dislocated a shoulder, fractured a rib, ruptured an artery, and ripped her ACL doing a highwire stunt. Once she leaped from a speeding van onto a convertible, bounced off the windshield, and nearly died tumbling onto the pavement. What happened after that? She got up and did the stunt again.

For Yeoh life isn't so different from a stunt. Planning helps, but the unexpected still happens. So every morning in bed she performs a gratitude ritual: She stretches every muscle in her body, notes the day's creaks and throbs, and apologizes to it for the joy she takes in challenging her limits. I'm sorry, please forgive me, I love you.

"To good health!" Yeoh says, hoisting a spicy margarita. It's a Friday afternoon in Beverly Hills, and the 60-year-old actress is easing into a relaxing weekend, a luxury she hasn't enjoyed in a while. That Yeoh is toasting to health could be seen as a sign of humility. She could have raised a glass to her pick of successes: the TV show she wrapped earlier this week, the new series she started today, her several major movies on the horizon (including James Cameron's long-anticipated sequel to Avatar), sitting front row at Balenciaga and Schiaparelli during Paris Fashion Week, or her astounding star turn as multiverse-jumping laundromat owner Evelyn Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once. The indie sensation has earned more than $90 million at the box office so far and was met with a critical response that can only be described as rhapsodic. The film is guaranteed to stay on people's lips through awards season along with the name of its lead.