From Singapore stage to international spotlight: Yeo Yann Yann unleashes killer instinct in Havoc

In action thriller Havoc, Yeo Yann Yann plays a triad boss seeking vengeance for the killing of her son. PHOTO: NETFLIX

John Lui

UPDATED Apr 16, 2025, 04:20 PM

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SINGAPORE – Yeo Yann Yann is entering her violent villain era – she makes an entrance in her new movie by whipping out a pistol and killing two men in quick succession.

This is not the serious dramatic actress that local audiences are familiar with.

The Singapore-based Malaysian has worked with award-winning Singaporean director Anthony Chen twice: first by playing an anxious pregnant mother in his Cannes Film Festival-winning drama Ilo Ilo (2013), then as an unhappy wife in his second feature Wet Season (2019), for which she picked up Best Leading Actress at the Golden Horse Awards.

She then made her Hollywood debut in the Disney+ fantasy-comedy series American Born Chinese (2023), as the mum of the teen protagonist (Ben Wang).

But in the action thriller Havoc, her biggest international movie to date, Yeo is Mother, a triad boss seeking vengeance for the killing of her son.