- Malaysian actress. Miss Malaysia 1983. Miss Moomba 1984.
- One of the highest paid Chinese-language actresses in the world.
- Member of the jury at the 2002 Cannes Film Festival.
- Member of the jury at the 1999 Berlin International Film Festival.
- Member of the International Olympic Committee since October 2023.
- Attended The Hammond School in Chester, Cheshire, England where she began her training as a ballet dancer. However, a spinal injury keep her from becoming a professional ballet dancer and she changed her attention to choreography and other arts.
- Received her Bachelor of Arts degree in creative arts with a minor in drama from the Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) in London, England (1982). Received her Bachelor of Arts degree in creative arts from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU) in Manchester, England (1983).
- Received an honorary degree (Doctor of Fine Arts) from the American Film Institute (AFI) for her services of distinction to the arts of the moving image on August 13, 2022. Received an honorary degree (Doctor of Humanities) from the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology for her services to the film industry on November 16, 2023.
- She is the second woman of color to win the Academy Award for Best Actress. She received her Oscar for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) from Jessica Chastain and Halle Berry, the latter of whom is the first woman of color to win the award. Yeoh won the award twenty-one years after Berry.
- Her Best Actress Academy Award nomination for Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) made her the first self-identifying Asian actress to be nominated in the category. (Merle Oberon was the first Best Actress nominee of Asian descent in 1936, but she did not publicly acknowledge her ancestry).
- Is known to have full-contract stunt fighting style. For the fight scene in the bicycle shop in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), the producers had to call in Jackie Chan's stunt team because none of the stuntmen wanted to do the scene with her, on account of her skill-set.
- She went through an intense six-week preparation for Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), described as "geisha boot camp" before production commenced. She and her co-star Ziyi Zhang nicknamed this crash course as "The Seven Rooms of Torture".
- Knight Commander of the Order of the Perak State Crown (DPMP) (19 April 2001), Knight of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of France (3 October 2007), Officer of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of France (14 March 2012), Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Perak State Crown (SPMP) (22 May 2012), Officer of the National Order of Arts and Letters of France (12 February 2016), Commander of the National Order of the Legion of Honour of France (27 March 2017).
- She was awarded Commander of the Order of Loyalty to the Crown of Malaysia (PSM) by Tuanku Abdul Halim Mu'adzam Shah, the Yang di-Pertuan Agong on June 1, 2013 for her services to the film industry. She eventually received the honorary title of Yang Berbahagia Tan Sri Dato' Seri.
- During the making of Crazy Rich Asians (2018), she was dissatisfied with the mock-up ring that her character, Eleanor Young, was going to wear. She showed director Jon M. Chu a ring from her personal collection and this eventually became the emerald and diamond ring Eleanor wears in the movie.
- She said that Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022) was completely out of her comfort zone: "I was suddenly doing comedy, physical comedy, action, horror, every single genre all packed into one and jumping in and out of it. It was such a gratifying experience. I've waited a long time to receive a script like that. Because, as you get older, the box gets smaller and smaller.".
- She has been an ambassador and leading campaigner for the FIA's Make Roads Safe campaign to be recognized as a global public health and development priority since 2008. She also has been a goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) for the Sustainable Development Goals initiative since 2016.
- She worked with the National Geographic Society (NGS) to produce the television documentary Among the Great Apes with Michelle Yeoh (2009) in order to raise awareness about wildlife conservation and climate change, while emphasizing the importance of responsible consumerism, sustainable fashion, and ethical business practices.
- She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Joe Biden on May 3, 2024, America's highest civilian honor, at a White House ceremony. She was cited for continuing "to shatter stereotypes and enrich American culture".
- She was very close friends with singer-actress Anita Mui since the early 1990s. She also hosted a memorial service for the singer-actress (called The Madonna of the East) (2007).
- She has expressed her support of Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak and the political coalition Barisan Nasional (National Front) ahead of the 2013 Malaysian general election.
- She was awarded the Crystal Award by the World Economic Forum (WEF), an international non-government organization, for her role as a cultural leader and for her services to society as an exceptional artist. (January 15, 2024)
- Was on the Time 100, a list of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time magazine. (2022)
- As of 2019, currently resides in Geneva, Switzerland.
- Speaks Cantonese, Mandarin and English fluently.
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