When Michelle Yeoh danced and studied in Crewe all at once

Steve Barlow, right, has recalled how he met Michelle Yeoh at a Cheshire college in 1982

A man has recalled how in the 1980s he became friends with Oscar winner Michelle Yeoh when she took dance classes at the college he attended.

Steve Barlow first met the future star at Crewe and Alsager College in 1982.

He said she took him under her wing when she attended the site as part of a performing arts degree.

Yeoh, 60, won the Oscar for best actress on Sunday for her performance in Everything Everywhere All at Once.

The film won seven awards, including best picture, director and original screenplay.

Steve Barlow studied at Crewe and Alsager College alongside the future award-winning star

Mr Barlow said she had joined the college as a performing arts student in 1980 when she was known by her birth name, Choo Kheng Yeoh, before specialising in dance in her final year.

He described how she had been a fan of horror movies and that the pair had watched films together and attended West End theatre shows.

"Out of the blue comes this very petite Malaysian woman and just took me under her wing," he said, adding that they were "inseparable" friends back then.

"She had to come to the country to engage in serious dance training - at the time the college was one of the top places to do that degree," he explained.

"There were very few places offering a degree education in performing arts," he added, saying that Yeoh had planned to study in London.

Everything Everywhere All at Once won seven awards at the Oscars

Mr Barlow said Yeoh had been "very laidback" and had never spoken about wanting to be an actress before landing a role in a martial arts film, during the filming of which, he added, she came to watch him perform in the West End.

He said Yeoh went from being "the most unassuming of personalities" to someone who was "utterly fearless".

"I don't think [the Oscar] could go to a more deserving person," he said.

"I can remember hunkering down with her in a flat in Swiss Cottage [London] watching Police Assassins which she'd just made and I just thought 'who is this woman'?

"She was a woman of mystery, she really was," he said.

After they went their separate ways in 1986, Mr Barlow said he had tried to message Yeoh through social media but had so far been unable to contact her.

Michelle Yeoh made history by becoming the first Asian woman to win the best actress award

Yeoh made history by becoming the first Asian woman to win the Best Actress award at the Oscars on Sunday.

In her acceptance speech, she said: "For all the little boys and girls who look like me watching tonight, this is a beacon of hope and possibilities.

"And ladies, don't let anybody tell you that you are ever past your prime," she added.