Michelle Yeoh said she didn’t work for “almost two years” in the 1990s due to all the “stereotypical roles” offered to her in the US.
The 60-year-old actor said people couldn’t tell the difference between whether she “was Chinese or Japanese or Korean or if I even spoke English” at the time.
“They would talk very loudly and very slow,” Yeoh told People.
The Everything Everywhere All at Once star said she was resistant to being typecast, so she didn’t end up working for almost two years until the 2000 film Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon came along.
“I didn’t work for almost two years, until Crouching Tiger, simply because I could not agree with the stereotypical roles that were put forward to me,” Yeoh said.
Earlier this week, Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan made history by becoming the first Asian actors to win top film prizes at the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) awards.
Yeoh became the first Asian actor to win best performance by a female actor in a leading role, while Quan took home best supporting actor trophy.
In her acceptance speech, Yeoh said: “Every one of you know, the journey, the rollercoaster ride, the ups and downs. But most important, we never give up.
“This is not just for me, this is for every little girl that looks like me. Thank you for giving me a seat at the table because so many of us need this. We want to be seen, we want to be heard.”
In January, Yeoh also won her first Golden Globe award for Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy for her role as Evelyn Wang in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
In her acceptance speech, Yeoh called out racism in the industry.
“I remember when I first came to Hollywood, it was a dream come true until I got here,” she said. “I came here and was told you’re a minority, and then, someone said, ‘You speak English’... And I said, ‘Yeah the flight over here was about 13 hours long so I learnt.’”
