Actress Michelle Yeoh blacklisted in Myanmar for her Suu Kyi role

Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh, who is playing a key role in a film about democracy icon Ang San Suu Kyi, was deported by Myanmar authorities on the same day she arrived in the country.

Last December Yeoh visited Burma (Myanmar) to meet with Myanmar pro-democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi. She was not accosted by Myanmar authorities then but last week she was sent back and even got blacklisted. "She did not have the chance to enter Myanmar (Burma) again. She was deported straight away on the first flight after arriving at Yangon (Rangoon) International Airport," a Burmese official said. The Hong Kong-based Malaysian actress, who starred in the 1977 James Bond film Tomorrow Never Dies, is playing the role of Suu Kyi in the film entitled The Lady which is directed by Luc Besson and scheduled to be released within the year. Yeoh, who holds a BA degree in Creative Arts from a London school, was chosen Miss Malaysia in 1993 and was the country's representative in the 1993 Miss World beauty pageant in London. The film is about the life of Aung San Suu Kyi, a pro-democracy leader in Myanmar who was jailed for over 15 of the last 20 years by the military junta for her efforts in bringing democracy and freedom to her impoverished country. In 1990, Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy party, the National League for Democracy, won the election by landslide and was poised to become the first woman Prime Minister of Myanmar. However the country's military rulers did not allow her to take power and put her in jail instead. Myanmar's officials declined to reveal the reason why the Malaysian actress was deported and blacklisted from the country. GMA News reported that Yeoh has been to Thailand, Britain and France for the location shooting of the film, a love story of Suu Kyi and her British husband during their long years of separation due to her detention.