Key Points
- Award winners Michelle Yeoh and Ke Huy Quan celebrate the recognition of cultural diversity.
- Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven Oscars.
- Organisers were keen to avoid a repeat of last year's show when Will Smith slapped Chris Rock.
Michelle Yeoh made history by becoming the first Asian woman to win the best actress Oscar, for her exuberant portrayal of an immigrant business owner thrust into a zany multiverse in the sci-fi trip Everything Everywhere All at Once.
The Hollywood veteran won over Academy voters with her complex take on Evelyn Wang, a Chinese American laundromat owner who is mired in a tax audit, stuck in a crumbling marriage and struggling to connect with her daughter Joy.
Oh, and she ends up traversing multiple universes to evade a powerful supernatural enemy, who happens to be an iteration of... her daughter.
"For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching a tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities. This is proof that dream big and dreams do come true," Yeoh said while accepting her award. "And ladies, don't let anybody ever tell you you are past your prime."
Sunday's statuette for the Malaysian-born actress comes at the end of a very successful awards season, with wins at the Golden Globes, the Spirit Awards and the Screen Actors Guild Awards.
Beauty queen, action hero
Yeoh was born to Malaysian-Chinese parents on August 6, 1962 in the city of Ipoh, 200 kilometres north of Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur.
She embraced dance as a child and specialised in ballet, which she studied in England.
On a vacation while visiting family, her mother entered her in the Miss Malaysia contest without consulting her.
"I agreed to go to shut her up," a giggling Yeoh, who unwittingly won the beauty pageant, told a talk show.
Cast members from Everything Everywhere All at Once, which won seven Oscars. Source: AAP / Caroline Brehman
Her global big break came in the James Bond installment Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), in which she played a Chinese spy opposite Pierce Brosnan, redefining the typical Bond girl.
That was followed by the massively successful Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, directed by Ang Lee, and Memoirs of a Geisha (2005), both alongside Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.
With more than 50 credits over four decades, Yeoh has a busy upcoming slate, including three new installments of Avatar and the movie adaptation of the musical Wicked, which will reunite her with Crazy Rich Asians director Jon Chu.
'Journey started on a boat'
Ke Huy Quan was named best supporting actor at the Academy Awards for his role as a metaverse-hopping husband in Everything Everywhere All at Once.
Quan cried as he kissed his Oscar trophy on stage and thanked his mother, his wife and others involved in the film's production.
"My mum is 84 years old and she's at home watching. Mum! I just won an Oscar."
Quan, born in Vietnam, thanked his mother for all her "sacrifices".
"My journey started on a boat. I spent a year in a refugee camp. Somehow I ended up here on Hollywood's biggest stage/ They say stories like this only happen in the movies. I cannot believe it's happening to me. This is the American dream.”
The 51-year-old said he had quit acting for years because he saw little opportunity for Asian actors on the big screen.
"Dreams are something you have to believe in. I almost gave up on mine. To all of you out there, please keep your dreams alive."
Blue ribbons for refugees and moving past 'the slap'
Several celebrities took to this year's red carpet wearing blue ribbons in a show of support for the United Nations' #WithRefugees campaign.
The campaign has brought together a number of universities, foundations, businesses and NGOs to provide practical ways of supporting refugees.
Big names, such as best-actress-nominee Cate Blanchett, are advocates for the global movement.
A crisis response team was on hand in case of an unexpected twist. The group was formed after Will Smith smacked Chris Rock on stage last year, tarnishing the film industry's most prestigious ceremony.
Cate Blanchett added a blue ribbon to her outfit on Hollywood’s biggest night. Source: Getty / Mike Coppola
Comedian Kimmel joked in his opening monologue about the audience reaction to Smith's attack last year.
"If anything unpredictable or violent happens at the ceremony, just do what you did last year - nothing," he told the crowd of A-list celebrities.
"Maybe give the assailant a hug."
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio was named best animated feature.
The 95th Academy Awards ceremony was broadcast live on Walt Disney Co's ABC network. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences hoped to move past the slap and stage a glitzy show and boost sagging TV ratings.
Winners are voted on by the roughly 10,000 actors, producers, directors and film craftspeople who make up the film academy.
Oscar winners
Best picture - Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best actor - Brendan Fraser, The Whale
Best actress - Michelle Yeoh, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best actor in a supporting role - Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best actress in a supporting role - Jamie Lee Curtis - Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best director - Daniel Kwan with Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best original song - Naatu Naatu, Kaala Bhairava and Rahul Sipligunj (RRR)
Best original score - All Quiet on the Western Front
Best makeup and hairstyling - The Whale
Best costume design - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Best cinematography - All Quiet on the Western Front
Best original screenplay - Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best adapted screenplay - Women Talking
Best sound - Top Gun: Maverick
Best film editing - Everything Everywhere All at Once
Best production design - All Quiet on the Western Front
Best visual effects - Avatar: The Way of Water
Best international feature film - All Quiet on the Western Front
Best animated feature - Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio - Guillermo del Toro, Mark Gustafson, Gary Ungar and Alex Bulkley
Best documentary feature - Navalny
Best live action short - An Irish Goodbye
Best documentary short - The Elephant Whisperers
Best animated short - The Boy, the Mole, the Fox and the Horse
