Daily Mail

Whatever happens, Michelle is already having aWicked year!

-

SHE’S currently in Los Angeles, waiting to see if her amazing career surge will be crowned with an Oscar on Sunday.

But the next stop on Michelle Yeoh’s itinerary after the Hollywood awards show is actually London.

Yeoh, 60, has been quietly living in a £1,500-a-night suite at a luxury hotel in London since the start of the year, while filming a movie version of the musical Wicked.

She’s due to be busy on set at Elstree — alongside Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo and Jeff Goldblum — until at least July, because Universal are making the film in two feature-length parts. That’s an awful lot of room service!

Friends say Yeoh has been coping with the separation from her long-term partner Jean Todt, the multi-millionair­e motorsport­s boss, by hopping on a plane to visit him at their home in Paris most weekends (and when she can’t, he returns the favour).

She has also been working with a vocal coach to polish her performanc­e as Madame Morrible, as she wasn’t sure she could sing when she took the role.

But Yeoh is the mistress of reinventio­n. She started as a dancer, leaving Malaysia to live in London as a teen, before a spinal injury put paid to her prima ballerina dreams.

She moved into action movies; and when her old spinal issues resurfaced, looked for more dramatic roles.

With her passion for couture, diamonds — and spicy margaritas — Yeoh has been the star of this awards season; and her friendship with co-star Jamie Lee Curtis seems heart-warmingly genuine in the land of the air-kiss.

She bought Curtis a jade ring from Tiffany after the actress admired one which she was wearing and the two of them have been delighted by each other’s successes.

Yeoh is neck and neck in the Oscars race with Cate Blanchett, nominated for Tar, and will be the first Asian woman to win Best Actress if she pulls it off. (I’ve even read a serious analysis based on both women’s horoscopes, suggesting it will be Yeoh’s year.)

If she does win for her performanc­e as multiple Evelyns in Everything Everywhere All At Once, keep an eye out for her wristwatch as she lifts her little gold man — it was designed for her by Swiss brand Richard Mille and features diamonds, rubies and a gold dragon and phoenix.

Only 20 were made and they cost £750,000.

 ?? ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United Kingdom