Michelle Yeoh Wipes Away Tears as She Accepts Berlinale Golden Bear and Reflects on a Career ‘Far Larger Than I Ever Dared to Imagine’
Madame Morrible is a Golden Bear winner.
Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh added another prestigious award to her collection on Wednesday night in a very rainy Berlin, where she was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 2026 Berlinale.
“Lifetime achievement is a very big phrase. It sounds like a conclusion, but I prefer to think of it as a pause, a moment to breathe, to look back, and then to keep walking forward — carefully, of course, so nobody takes this Bear back,” she said, following a montage of clips of her films including “Wicked,” “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,” Everything Everywhere All At Once,” “The Lady” and her early Hong Kong action classics.
Yeoh said that the Berlinale “meant more to me than I can say,” adding that when she was “still searching for where I belonged, Berlin welcome me” and that early welcome mattered. “It said there was space for voices from the edges, for artists still becoming themselves. I’m grateful to say that I am still becoming, perhaps a little slower now, but still as stubborn.
Reflecting on her youth, Yeah claimed that she “never imagined” that a girl from Malaysia “who loved discipline, dance, dreaming without limits, would travel so far through stories.”
She said: “My path has crossed languages and cultures, continents and genres, sometimes gracefully, sometimes a little painfully, but always guided by curiosity and deep faith in cinema. Film became the place where I could hold contradictions, strength and vulnerability, seriousness, and play control and surrender. It gave me not just a career, but a life far larger than I ever dared to imagine.”
Yeoh asserted that the Golden Bear honor also belonged to “every director who took a chance, every producer who believed, every co-star who became family, and every crew member whose artistry lives quiet in every frame,” and gave a special mention to her late father.
“I carry him with me, his discipline, his steadiness, his belief that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing. And if you could see me standing here tonight holding this Golden Bear, I know he would smile.”
The award was presented by Sean Baker, who claimed he first saw Yeoh in the 1987 kung-fu title “Dynamite Fighters,” admitting that he was “probably watching a very questionable bootleg tape.”
The “Anora” director — who recently collaborated with Yeoh on the short film “Sandiwara” — described the star as a “once in a generation screen presence — the kind who doesn’t just appear in movies, but the kind that redefines the temperature of the room — you feel it shift when she walks on screen.”
On accepting the award from Baker, Yeoh said would love to work with him again, but added: “Just no sex scenes.”
Oscar-winning actress Michelle Yeoh added another prestigious award to her collection on Wednesday night in a very rainy Berlin, where she was presented with the Honorary Golden Bear for lifetime achievement at the 2026 Berlinale.
“Lifetime achievement is a very big phrase. It sounds like a conclusion, but I prefer to think of it as a pause, a moment to breathe, to look back, and then to keep walking forward — carefully, of course, so nobody takes this Bear back,” she said, following a montage of clips of her films including “Wicked,” “Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon,” Everything Everywhere All At Once,” “The Lady” and her early Hong Kong action classics.
Yeoh said that the Berlinale “meant more to me than I can say,” adding that when she was “still searching for where I belonged, Berlin welcome me” and that early welcome mattered. “It said there was space for voices from the edges, for artists still becoming themselves. I’m grateful to say that I am still becoming, perhaps a little slower now, but still as stubborn.
Reflecting on her youth, Yeah claimed that she “never imagined” that a girl from Malaysia “who loved discipline, dance, dreaming without limits, would travel so far through stories.”
She said: “My path has crossed languages and cultures, continents and genres, sometimes gracefully, sometimes a little painfully, but always guided by curiosity and deep faith in cinema. Film became the place where I could hold contradictions, strength and vulnerability, seriousness, and play control and surrender. It gave me not just a career, but a life far larger than I ever dared to imagine.”
Yeoh asserted that the Golden Bear honor also belonged to “every director who took a chance, every producer who believed, every co-star who became family, and every crew member whose artistry lives quiet in every frame,” and gave a special mention to her late father.
“I carry him with me, his discipline, his steadiness, his belief that if something is worth doing, it is worth doing. And if you could see me standing here tonight holding this Golden Bear, I know he would smile.”
The award was presented by Sean Baker, who claimed he first saw Yeoh in the 1987 kung-fu title “Dynamite Fighters,” admitting that he was “probably watching a very questionable bootleg tape.”
The “Anora” director — who recently collaborated with Yeoh on the short film “Sandiwara” — described the star as a “once in a generation screen presence — the kind who doesn’t just appear in movies, but the kind that redefines the temperature of the room — you feel it shift when she walks on screen.”
On accepting the award from Baker, Yeoh said would love to work with him again, but added: “Just no sex scenes.”