Kieu Chinh
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.
Known For
Credits
- 2025 · Dope Thief as Xuan 'Grandma' Pham
- 2025 · Control Freak as Aunt Thuy
- 2024 · My Eyes as Mrs. Cheong
- 2024 · The Sympathizer as Crapulent Major's Mother
- 2019 · Finding Julia as Van Tran
- 2019 · In Full Bloom as Cecile
- 2018 · The Neighborhood as Tuyen
- 2014 · Hollow as Shaman Linh
- 2012 · Trade of Innocents as (voice)
- 2012 · Pearls of the Far East as Kieu
- 2009 · NCIS: Los Angeles as Kim Nguyen
- 2009 · NCIS: Los Angeles as Madge
- 2008 · 21 as Chinese Woman
- 2006 · 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 · City of Angels as Asian Woman
- 1997 · Riot as Mrs. Lee
- 1996 · Promised Land as Mrs. Kim
- 1994 · Touched by an Angel as Lang
- 1994 · Touched by an Angel as Mrs. Kim
- 1994 · ER as Mrs. Chen
- 1993 · The Joy Luck Club as Suyuan Wong
- 1990 · Vietnam Texas as Mallan
- 1989 · Welcome Home as Leang
- 1989 · Gleaming the Cube as Madame Trac
- 1987 · Hamburger Hill as Mama San
- 1986 · The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer as Sai Luhn
- 1986 · The Girl Who Spelled Freedom as Phoen Yann
- 1983 · Cocaine: One Man's Seduction as Mrs. Marchais
- 1982 · The Letter as Chinese Woman
- 1981 · The Other Victim as Mrs. Troung
- 1981 · Fly Away Home as Anh
- 1980 · The Children of An Lac as Thuy
- 1978 · My Husband Is Missing as Lu-An
- 1978 · The Lucifer Complex as Major Chinn Lee
- 1977 · The Hostage Heart as Flor Aquino
- 1973 · The Shadow on the Roadside as
- 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 · A Yank in Viet-Nam as Kieu Chinh
- Future · Chrysalis as