Changed their name: Michelle Yeoh Amy Sussman / Getty Images Her real name is Choo Kheng Yeoh (although the name order is switched, so it's really Yeoh Choo Kheng). Back in the '80s, the actor was pressured to change her name. She told USA Today, "I only adopted the name Michelle when I got into the film industry because my producer said at the time, 'No one is going to be able to say your name.
'" Steve Granitz / FilmMagic Though she reluctantly agreed to the name change, Yeoh voiced her disbelief at the time. "What do you mean they can't say it? It's Yeoh as in Yo, that’s easy right? Choo as in 'choo choo train' and Kheng as in 'king.' Why can't you put those three words together?" Refused: Amrit Kaur Errich Petersen / SXSW Conference & Festivals via Getty Images Advertisement The actor told Harper's Bazaar that she only recently started correcting people's pronunciation of her name.
"For a long time, I was 'Aym-ritt,' which is disgusting. It doesn’t sound good..
. It was only three years ago I started telling my friends and family that my name is 'Um-rith.' You pronounce it like a U, not an A.
All my life, I’d been called 'Aym-ritt.'" Matt Winkelmeyer / Variety via Getty Images In The Sex Lives of College Girls , her character Bela opts for the common American pronunciation rather than the Indian one her parents use. But Kaur appreciated this, saying, "It didn’t make me angry.
It made me feel like we’re finally revealing truths about being a South Asian born in Ame.
