Michelle Yeoh Asks How Barbie Got 'Nominated for Best Picture But Not Best Director and Best Actress' at Oscars

Michelle Yeoh became the first Southeast Asian woman to win Best Actress at the Oscar in 2023, when she won for 'Everything Everywhere All at Once'

Michelle Yeoh is weighing in on Barbie's eight Academy Award nominations — and Greta Gerwig and Margot Robbie's surprising snubs in the Best Director and Best Actress categories.

Yeoh, who won Best Actress at the 2023 Oscars for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once, joined the Today show Wednesday to discuss her new Netflix series The Brothers Sun and reflect on her groundbreaking awards season last year.

"You know, joy and disappointment, it seems to go hand in hand," she said, when asked by Today cohost Hoda Kotb for her opinion on the surprising Barbie omissions. "It’s just, for us, it’s like, it’s not enough nominations to go around."

"The only take is like, it’s so competitive out there and there is no guarantee because you’re not the only voter, you know? It’s widespread," she added. "Thank God the movie got nominated for Best Picture. But you do think, ‘How do you get nominated for Best Picture but not Best Director and not Best Actress?’ "

Though Gerwig, 40, and Robbie, 33, were left out of the five nominees in the Best Director and Best Actress categories when the Oscar nominations were unveiled Tuesday, the filmmaker and Barbie star did receive nominations in the Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Picture categories, respectively.

"It happens and I’m sorry it happened to them because it’s obviously one of the most successful and beloved movies," Yeoh, 60, shared during her Today show appearance. "Look at the box office."

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"I hope they don’t have to wait that long," she added, when Kotb pointed out that Yeoh's own Oscar win came more than three decades into her acting career.

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Gerwig and Robbie's exclusion from individual directing and acting categories at the upcoming 96th Oscars ceremony has notably drawn criticism from cast members America Ferrera and Ryan Gosling, who were nominated for Best Supporting Actress and Best Supporting Actor, respectively, on Tuesday. Ferrera, 39, told Variety that she "was incredibly disappointed that they weren’t nominated," and shared in a statement to PEOPLE that Gerwig and Robbie "made history and raised the bar with Barbie."

Gosling, 43, said in a statement shared with PEOPLE Tuesday, "To say that I’m disappointed that they are not nominated in their respective categories would be an understatement."

"Against all odds with nothing but a couple of soulless, scantily clad, and thankfully crotchless dolls, they made us laugh, they broke our hearts, they pushed the culture and they made history," he added. "Their work should be recognized along with the other very deserving nominees."

Ferrera even followed up on Gosling's statement late Tuesday night when she shared it on her Instagram Story and added, “Oh Ryan. Just so well said," in a caption to the post.

The 96th Academy Awards, hosted byJimmy Kimmel, will air live on Sunday, March 10, from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California, beginning at 7 p.m. ET.

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