She changed her stage name back to Michelle Yeoh when she started her Hollywood career with "Tomorrow Never Dies" in 1997. In the 1997 James Bond film, she played Wai Lin opposite star Pierce Brosnan. Brosnan was impressed, describing her as a "wonderful actress" who was "serious and committed about her work". He referred to her as a "female James Bond" in reference to her combat abilities. She wanted to perform her own stunts but was prevented because director Roger Spottiswoode considered it too dangerous. Nevertheless, she performed all of her own fighting scenes. Yeoh was then recruited by Ang Lee to star as Yu Shu Lien in the Chinese language martial arts film "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" (2000). The film was shot in various provinces around China. Yeoh had grown up speaking English and Malay, before learning Cantonese. She spoke little Mandarin, and learned the Mandarin lines for "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" phonetically. The film was an international success, and earned Yeoh a BAFTA 2000 nomination for Best Actress in a Leading Role.