When you face up to bad things in the past, the most important thing is not to allow them to happen today or in the future, and as storytellers, we must play our part in that.

I love my martial arts and action movies. They give another dimension to the acting world: the emotional plus the physical.

I don't plan to go out and do action or not do action.

With an award like the Asian Film Awards, we've sent a message saying that 'Asian Cinema is here, it matters, and more importantly, we are all part of the same fraternity!' The AFA is truly, then, an award for Asia, by Asia.

Why do we have 'Transformers 5 or 6?' Because young kids will go and see it four or five times.

I gravitate towards roles where women find strength in very difficult, uncompromising situations but maintain clarity in mind, discipline at heart, and a certain strength in spirit.

I gathered as much reading material about Aung San Suu Kyi and about Burma as I could. And I read every article and every book she had written. I also had 200 hours of footage of her to watch. I tried to discover who were her heroes and where he desire and strength to pursue democracy in a non-violent fashion came from.

Every time I choose to do a movie, I make the decision because of what I think I can learn from it.

It's all choreographed; it's a routine. So I told everyone I really wanted to try fighting in action films. I had no stunt experience, but I had the dance background, and I was very agile and coordinated. And the best thing about being a newcomer to acting is you can afford to try new things.

I think that learning Burmese has to have been one of the most challenging things that I have had to do for a movie.

The first one I did was an action film with Sammo Hung and George Lam, but I had the usual female role for that time: you know, damsel in distress, rescued by the hero.

Sometimes when I'm on the phone, someone will say, 'Yes, Mr. Yeoh.' And I'm thinking, 'I'm not Mr. Yeoh, man.'

In Europe and America, you never see a director pick up a camera. They all sit behind monitors.

Action shouldn't just be seeing all those crashes. You can blow up a cathedral; next time you blow up the Great Wall of China, and then what? But when you're in love with your characters, the smallest action becomes an important action.

I believe that the director is really the soul. It is a collaborative effort, but the director is the one who needs to have that vision. It could be a great script, but it starts from there. You need to have good material, at least, but if you don't have someone with vision, it's just words.

If you were ever a ballerina, you know the pain: just to be able to look like it's all so light, but when they take off their shoes, it's all bloody.

It was like baptism by fire. There was no school for studying acting. You just have to take it upon yourself to learn from your peers. It's about opening your eyes, listening, and watching.

I have very supportive parents who said, 'Go and do what you want to do. Home is always here for you, and if you don't like it out there, come back. You can always do something different.' So when you have an option like that, you are able to choose roles or choose the things you want to be in.