Kieu Chinh

Kieu Chinh (1939-     ) is a Vietnamese-American actress who started her career in Saigon with her debut film, Hoi Chuong Thien Mu (The Bells of Thien Mu Temple) (1957).  She would go on to star in over 30 films while in South Vietnam.  Born in Hanoi, the eldest of two daughters, Kieu Chinh resettled in Saigon in 1954.  While in Vietnam, Kieu Chinh had set up her own film production company, which had produced her most popular Vietnamese film, Nguoi Tinh Khong Chan Dung (Faceless Lover) (1971).  Among the leading men in her Vietnamese films have included Le Quynh, Hung Cuong, Thanh Duoc and Tran Quang.  She had also starred in A Yank in Vietnam (1964) and Operation C.I.A. (1965), opposite Burt Reynolds.  For many years, Kieu Chinh had also hosted a television program in Vietnam where she conducted where she conducted interviews of popular international film actors and actresses.

Chiec Bong Ben Duong (1973)
(from left to right) starring Thanh Duoc, Kieu Chinh and Kim Cuong

In 1975, while on set in Singapore to shoot a movie, Kieu Chinh's world came to a shattering halt as the North Vietnamese conquered South Vietnam.  She resettled in the United States and two years later resumed her acting career with an appearance on an episode of MASH in 1977.  Kieu Chinh has since landed roles in such films as Hamburger Hill (1987), Riot (1997), Catfish in Black Bean Sauce (1999), Face (2002), and her most popular role as Suyuan in The Joy Luck Club (1993), a film based on Amy Tan's novel of the same name and also starred another legendary film actress of Vietnamese descent, France Nuyen.  From 1989 until 1991, Kieu Chinh had a recurring role as Trieu An on China Beach.

Kieu Chinh won an Emmy for her work on Kieu Chinh:  A Journey Home (1996) on KTTV.  Together with journalist Terry Anderson, she co-founded Vietnam's Children Fund, which has built schools in Vietnam attended by over 12,000 students.

She was formerly married to actor Nguyen Nang Te.  In 1980, the couple divorced after 25 years of marriage which had produced three children.  Kieu Chinh resides in Huntington Beach, California.  

Link(s):

Kieu Chinh Facebook Page
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