Michelle Yeoh - On typecasting, fertility and THAT Oscars speech

How To Fail With Elizabeth Day

Sony Music

Society & Culture

4.8 • 9.4K Ratings

🗓️ 19 November 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Michelle Yeoh has created a legendary body of work that defies easy categorisation. You’ll know her from cult classic Kung Fu Cinema, Everything Everywhere, All At Once - the film that made her the first Asian woman to be given the Academy Award for Best Actress at the time. She was cast as a Bond girl in Tomorrow Never Dies, then starred in the global box office hit Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and the brilliantly chilling future mother-in-law in Crazy Rich Asians. This month sees her returning to the role in Wicked, as Madame Morrible. In person she is warm and engaging, with a fascinating story to tell. We talk about why mistakes help us grow, why she felt like a ‘failure’ for not having children (something we have in common), stage fright - and how she almost quit after a life-threatening stunt injury. Plus: racism, typecasting and why her mother is the REAL diva. ✨ IN THIS EPISODE: 01:16 The Journey to Hollywood 02:36 The Role of Family 03:52 On Playing Iconic Roles 08:10 Facing Personal Challenges 24:20 Think Wider: Breaking Family Expectations 25:38 Pursuing Dreams: From Ballet to Acting 27:16 The Hong Kong Film Industry: Early Challenges 27:33 Breaking Stereotypes: Women in Action Films 34:25 Hollywood's Limitations: Typecasting and Minority Roles 37:30 Facing Racism: The Ongoing Struggle 39:22 Stunt Accident: A Turning Point 47:57 Resilience and Reflection: Lessons Learned 💬 QUOTES TO REMEMBER: When you're down, you learn. You become resilient, you become stronger and you learn from mistakes. Don't wallow in them. I truly believe ups and downs are like a heartbeat. You can't just [go] one way. Right? That would be a flatline. I believe in always moving forwards, because if you stay still you're just stagnant and you're just waiting for the inevitable. An act of kindness or compassion goes a long, long way in our world and we are in so desperate need of that. 🔗 LINKS + MENTIONS: Wicked: For Good is in cinemas from 21st November Join the How To Fail community: https://howtofail.supportingcast.fm/#content Elizabeth’s Substack: https://theelizabethday.substack.com/ 📚 WANT MORE? Sharon Horgan - on quitting art college and drama school, the impact of divorce and being in her 50s https://link.chtbl.com/hR7kycoN Andrew Scott - on childhood failure, not finishing university and heteronormativity https://link.chtbl.com/18dVhMb_ 💌 LOVE THIS EPISODE? Subscribe on Spotify, Apple or wherever you get your podcasts Leave a 5⭐ review – it helps more people discover these stories 👋 Follow How To Fail & Elizabeth: Instagram: @elizabday TikTok: @howtofailpod Podcast Instagram: @howtofailpod Website: www.elizabethday.org Elizabeth and Michelle answer YOUR questions in our subscriber series, Failing with Friends. Join our community of subscribers here: howtofailpod.com Have a failure you’re trying to work through for Elizabeth to discuss? Click here to get in touch: howtofailpod.com Production & Post Production Coordinator: Eric Ryan Engineer: Matias Torres Assistant Producer: Suhaar Ali Senior Producer: Hannah Talbot Executive Producer: Carly Maile How to Fail is an Elizabeth Day and Sony Music Entertainment Production. Find more great podcasts from Sony Music Entertainment at sonymusic.com/podcasts To bring your brand to life in this podcast, email [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	When you're down, you learn, you become resilient, you become stronger and you learn from mistakes.
0:06.4	Don't wallow in them. I held my arms out like that. Luckily, I had a big gown on.
0:11.6	And I'm like, oh my God, I was sweating. It was just dripping because I was so scared.
0:19.0	Yes. Hello and welcome to How to Fail.
0:22.0	This is the podcast that believes that failure shows us who we truly are and what we're
0:26.8	really made of.
0:28.2	Before we get started on this conversation, please do remember to subscribe and follow
0:33.0	so that you never miss a single episode.
0:44.1	This episode is brought to you by Squarespace,
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1:30.9	And when you're ready to launch, use offer code fail 10, that's fail 1,0, to save 10% off your first
1:37.0	purchase of a website or domain. Life's been full on lately in the best possible way. I've just
1:42.7	wrapped up a world-win national tour for my latest
1:45.1	book. And while it's been an incredible experience, it's also been kind of exhausting. And honestly,
1:51.1	I know I'm not alone in feeling like there just aren't enough hours in the day. Between work,
	...

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