Michelle Yeoh, Cate Blanchett Win Best-Actress Awards at the Golden Globes 2023

“I’m just going to stand here and take this all in,” Michelle Yeoh said as she took the stage to accept her award at the Golden Globes 2023 for best actress in a musical or comedy.

Yeoh won for her role in Everything Everywhere All at Once, A24’s genre-bending action-drama film in which she plays Evelyn, a laundromat owner who is pulled into a plot across multiple universes to save the human race from destruction. Her competition included Lesley Manville for Mrs. Harris Goes to Paris, Margot Robbie for Babylon, Anya Taylor-Joy for The Menu, and Emma Thompson for Good Luck to You, Leo Grande.

In her acceptance speech, Yeoh reflected on how her decades-long career resulted in this role that she considers one of her most important and fulfilling. “It’s been an incredible journey, an incredible fight, but I think it’s all been worth it,” she said. 

Yeoh has been raking in the awards and critics prizes this season already, including the Santa Barbara International Film Festival’s highest honor and the National Board of Review’s actress prize just this past weekend. “I guess my 40 years of experience was like a long rehearsal for this movie,” she recently told Vanity Fair of the role in the film by Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert.

“I think all of you women understand this. As the days and the years and the numbers get bigger, it seems like the opportunities get smaller,” said Yeoh, now 60, who also reflected on the difficulties she had as an actor of Asian descent in Hollywood. 

She wrapped up her speech by acknowledging those who came before her. “This is for all the shoulders I stand on, all who came before me who look like me, and all who are going with me on this journey forward.”

As for best actress in a drama, Cate Blanchett won but was not present to accept the award (presenter Henry Golding stated she was filming in the UK). She faced off against Olivia Colman for Empire of Light, Viola Davis for The Woman King, Ana de Armas for Blonde, and Michelle Williams for The Fabelmans. Blanchett’s gripping work as composer-conductor Lydia Tár in Todd Field’s film has been one of the most talked-about performances of the year ever since the film debuted at the Venice Film Festival, where Blanchett won the award for best actress. Among the awards she’s already received are ones from the National Society of Film Critics and the New York Film Critics Circle, as well as an honor from the Palm Springs International Film Festival. 

Blanchett and Yeoh are both tipped to earn several other nominations (SAG Award nominations are announced tomorrow) and have all but locked their slots for Academy Award nominations. Their dual wins today cement this year’s best-actress race as one of the most exciting in many years.