Kieu Chinh
Born: 1937-07-03 in Hanoi, Vietnam
Known For: Acting
Biography
Kieu Chinh (born September 3rd, 1937) is a Vietnamese-American actress, producer, humanitarian, lecturer and philanthropist. One of the most prominent film stars in South Vietnam during the 60s and 70s, she immigrated to America after 1975 and eventually settled in California where she resumed acting with the help of Tippi Hedron; her first credit in America was as Hawkeye’s South Korean love interest in the TV show M*A*S*H. Subsequently, Kieu Chinh appeared in 45 feature films and television shows, among them the TV movies The Children of An Lac (1980), The Letter (1982) and The Girl Who Spelled Freedom (1986), and films like Hamburger Hill (1987), Gleaming the Cube (1988), Riot (1997) and Catfish in Black Bean Sauce (1999). She also landed a recurring role on ABC’s Vietnam war series China Beach from 1989 to 1991 and the Fox TV show 21 in 2008. But her best-known role is that of Suyuan Woo in Wayne Wang’s The Joy Luck Club in 1993, a film about the relationship between Chinese immigrant mothers and their Chinese-American mothers. Amongst the accolades that Chinh has received in her six-decade career are the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Vietnamese International Film Festival in 2003, the Special Acting Award at the Women’s Film Festival in Turin in 2003, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the San Diego Asian Film Festival and the San Francisco Film Fest in 2006 and 2015, respectively. In 2009, Chinh was honored as the Woman of the Year for her work in film and community service by California Representative Lou Correa.
Filmography
2025
- Dope Thief as Xuan 'Grandma' Pham
- Control Freak as Aunt Thuy
2024
- The Sympathizer as Crapulent Major's Mother
- My Eyes as Mrs. Cheong
2019
- Finding Julia as Van Tran
- In Full Bloom as Cecile
2018
- The Neighborhood as Tuyen
2014
- Hollow as Shaman Linh
2012
- Trade of Innocents as (voice)
- Pearls of the Far East as Kieu
2009
- NCIS: Los Angeles as Kim Nguyen
- 21 and a Wake-Up as Mamason
2008
- 21 as Chinese Woman
2007
- Journey From the Fall as Ba Noi (Grandmother)
2003
- Tempted as Kehau
2002
- Face as Mrs. Liu
2001
- Green Dragon as Kieu
2000
- What's Cooking? as Grandma Nguyen
1999
- Catfish in Black Bean Sauce as Thanh
1998
- Martial Law as Lin Sung Yuan
- City of Angels as Asian Woman
1997
- Riot as Mrs. Lee
1996
- Promised Land as Mrs. Kim
1995
- Cybill as Herbalist
1994
- ER as Mrs. Chen
- Chicago Hope as Mrs. Mai Ying Wang
- Touched by an Angel as Lang
1993
- The Joy Luck Club as Suyuan Wong
1990
- The Girl Who Came Between Them as Thuy
- Last Flight Out
- Vietnam Texas as Mallan
1989
- Gleaming the Cube as Madame Trac
- Welcome Home as Leang
1987
- Hamburger Hill as Mama San
1986
- The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer as Sai Luhn
- The Girl Who Spelled Freedom as Phoen Yann
1983
- Cocaine: One Man's Seduction as Mrs. Marchais
1982
- The Letter as Chinese Woman
1981
- Fly Away Home as Anh
- The Other Victim as Mrs. Troung
1980
- The Children of An Lac as Thuy
1979
- Roots: The Next Generations as U.N. Receptionist
1978
- My Husband Is Missing as Lu-An
- The Lucifer Complex as Major Chinn Lee
1977
- The Hostage Heart as Flor Aquino
1972
- Love Storm as Thủy
1971
- Warrior, Who Are You as Mỹ Lan
1970
- The Evil Within as Kamar Souria
1967
- From Saigon to Dien Bien Phu as Kiều Loan
1965
- Operation C.I.A. as Kim-Chinh
1964
- The Eyes I Used to Know
- A Yank in Viet-Nam as Kieu Chinh