Which Former Bond Girl Just Got Deported?

Myanmar immigration officials didn't take too kindly to the 48-year-old international superstar set to play a political activist

By Gina Serpe Jun 29, 2011 6:25 PMTags
Guess WhoPascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

Russell Brand just got some company on international no-fly lists.

Shortly after touching down in Myanmar last month, where she was due to begin filming a new movie, this actress was detained upon arrival by Yangon's custody officials and summarily sent back out of the country on the next available flight.

Some hospitality. So who is this 48-year-old international star? And what could she possibly have done wrong?

Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images

The name's Yeoh. Michelle Yeoh.

The Tomorrow Never Dies star arrived in Myanmar on June 22 to film scenes for The Lady—which she had already been filming in Thailand, Britain and France—in which she will play pro-democracy leader and Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who spent seven years under house arrest in the country for fighting against the nation's military dictatorship.

Which makes it hardly surprising that they didn't welcome Yeoh, her portrayer, with open arms. (The country routinely rejects visa requests from journalists and critics of its repressive regime.)

"She was deported on the same day because she is on a blacklist," an immigration official told Reuters.

It's unclear if the crew will attempt to return or if they will finish off the film's production elsewhere.

The film will chronicle the love story between Suu Kyi and her late British husband, Michael Aris. Aris himself was denied visas into the country to visit his house-arrested wife after he was diagnosed with cancer.

The film is due out in late August or early September.