Kieu Chinh
Acting • Born 1937-07-03
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
55 credits
Hamburger Hill
Movie • 1987
Mama San
Journey From the Fall
Movie • 2007
Ba Noi (Grandmother)
My Husband Is Missing
Movie • 1978
Lu-An
Welcome Home
Movie • 1989
Leang
Tempted
Movie • 2003
Kehau
The Shadow on the Roadside
Movie • 1973
Operation C.I.A.
Movie • 1965
Kim-Chinh
The Hostage Heart
Movie • 1977
Flor Aquino
Fly Away Home
Movie • 1981
Anh
Vietnam Texas
Movie • 1990
Mallan
Trade of Innocents
Movie • 2012
(voice)
Warrior, Who Are You
Movie • 1971
Mỹ Lan
The Other Victim
Movie • 1981
Mrs. Troung
The Joy Luck Club
Movie • 1993
Suyuan Wong
A Yank in Viet-Nam
Movie • 1964
Kieu Chinh
Riot
Movie • 1997
Mrs. Lee
What's Cooking?
Movie • 2000
Grandma Nguyen
The Lucifer Complex
Movie • 1978
Major Chinn Lee
The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer
Movie • 1986
Sai Luhn
Hollow
Movie • 2014
Shaman Linh
The Letter
Movie • 1982
Chinese Woman
Control Freak
Movie • 2025
Aunt Thuy
Pearls of the Far East
Movie • 2012
Kieu
Catfish in Black Bean Sauce
Movie • 1999
Thanh
The Children of An Lac
Movie • 1980
Thuy
The Evil Within
Movie • 1970
Kamar Souria
Face
Movie • 2002
Mrs. Liu
Gleaming the Cube
Movie • 1989
Madame Trac
Finding Julia
Movie • 2019
Van Tran
In Full Bloom
Movie • 2019
Cecile
The Girl Who Spelled Freedom
Movie • 1986
Phoen Yann
City of Angels
Movie • 1998
Asian Woman
Green Dragon
Movie • 2001
Kieu
Cocaine: One Man's Seduction
Movie • 1983
Mrs. Marchais
21
Movie • 2008
Chinese Woman
My Eyes
Movie • 2024
Mrs. Cheong
From Saigon to Dien Bien Phu
Movie • 1967
Kiều Loan
Chrysalis
Movie
21 and a Wake-Up
Movie • 2009
Mamason
The Girl Who Came Between Them
Movie • 1990
Thuy
Last Flight Out
Movie • 1990
Love Storm
Movie • 1972
Thủy
Promised Land
TV • 1996
Mrs. Kim
NCIS: Los Angeles
TV • 2009
Kim Nguyen
ER
TV • 1994
Mrs. Chen
The Neighborhood
TV • 2018
Tuyen
The Sympathizer
TV • 2024
Crapulent Major's Mother
Touched by an Angel
TV • 1994
Lang
Touched by an Angel
TV • 1994
Mrs. Kim
NCIS: Los Angeles
TV • 2009
Madge
Dope Thief
TV • 2025
Xuan 'Grandma' Pham
Roots: The Next Generations
TV • 1979
U.N. Receptionist
Cybill
TV • 1995
Herbalist
Chicago Hope
TV • 1994
Mrs. Mai Ying Wang
Martial Law
TV • 1998
Lin Sung Yuan