Kiều Chinh

Kiều Chinh (born Nguyễn Thị Chinh; 3 July 1937) is a Vietnamese-American actress, humanitarian, lecturer, and philanthropist. She is known as one of the most legendary actors from Vietnam. In her career spanning over sixty years, Kiều Chinh received many accolades including an Emmy Award in 1996.

Kiều Chinh
Born
Nguyễn Thị Chinh

(1937-07-03) 3 July 1937
Hanoi, North Viet Nam
Occupation
  • Actress
  • humanitarian
  • lecturer
  • philanthropist
Years active1957–present
Spouse(s)
Nguyễn Năng Tế
​
​
(m. 1955; div. 1981)​
Children3
Websitekieu-chinh.com

Her internationally notable film roles were in Operation C.I.A. (1965) and The Joy Luck Club (1993). Kiều Chinh is also a president, co-founder, and co-chair of the Vietnam Children's Fund.

Career

Kiều Chinh began her acting career in her South Vietnam, starting with a starring role in Hồi Chuông Thiên Mụ (The Bells of Thiên Mụ Temple) (1957). Kiều Chinh soon became one of South Vietnam's best-known personalities.

In the 1960s, in addition to Vietnamese films, she also appeared in several American productions including A Yank in Viet-Nam (1964) and Operation C.I.A. (1965), the latter opposite Burt Reynolds. Kiều Chinh also produced a war epic Người Tình Không Chân Dung (Warrior, Who Are You) (1971), which later would be remastered and shown in the U.S. at the 2003 Vietnamese International Film Festival.

In 1975, while Kiều Chinh was on the set in Singapore, communist North Vietnamese overran Saigon. Kiều Chinh left for the U.S. where she resumed her acting career in a 1977 episode of M*A*S*H "In Love and War", written by Alan Alda and loosely based on her life story.

Kiều Chinh subsequently acted in feature films as well as TV-movies including The Children of An Lac (TV), Hamburger Hill (1987), Riot (1997), Catfish in Black Bean Sauce (1999), Face (2002), Journey From The Fall (2005), 21 (2008).

From 1989 to 1991, she had a recurring role as Triệu Âu on the ABC Vietnam War drama series China Beach.

In 2015, she co-produced Ride The Thunder (2015), a Fred Koster film based on the book of the same title, written by Richard Botkin.

In her best known role, she starred as Suyuan, one of the women in Wayne Wang’s The Joy Luck Club (film) in 1993. In 2005, Kiều Chinh starred in Journey from the Fall, an epic feature film tracing a Vietnamese family through the aftermath of the fall of Saigon, the re-education camps, the boat people experience, and the initial difficulties of settling in the U.S.

Personal life

For over a decade, Kiều Chinh has been a lecturer of the Greater Talent Network in New York. She has been invited to give keynote addresses at Pfizer, Kellogg, Cornell University and University of San Diego.

Kiều Chinh is also active in philanthropic work. Together with journalist Terry Anderson, she co-founded the Vietnam Children’s Fund, which has built schools in Vietnam attended by more than 25,000 students annually. Kiều Chinh and Anderson continue to serve as the Fund’s co-chair.

Filmography

Honors and awards

At the 2003 Vietnamese International Film Festival, Kiều Chinh received the Lifetime Achievement Award. Also in 2003, at the Women's Film Festival in Turin Kiều Chinh was awarded the Special Acting Award. In 2006, the San Diego Asian Film Festival honored Kieu Chinh with the Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2015, the San Francisco Film Fest, Festival of Globe honors Kieu Chinh with a Lifetime Achievement Award for her contributions to the film industry and more.

A documentary based on her life, Kiều Chinh: A Journey Home by Patrick Perez / KTTV, won the Emmy in 1996.

In 2009, Chinh was honored as the 2009 Woman of the Year for her work in film and community service by State Senator Lou Correa.

References
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