Kieu Chinh facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kieu Chinh
Born	Nguyễn Thị Kiều Chinh (1937-09-03) September 3, 1937 (age 87) Hanoi, Tonkin, French Indochina
Nationality	American
Occupation	Actress producer
Years active	1957–present
Spouse(s)	Nguyễn Năng Tế ​ ​ (m. 1955; div. 1980)​
Children	3

Kieu Chinh, born on September 3, 1937, is a famous Vietnamese-American actress. She is also a producer, helps people, gives talks, and supports good causes.

Kieu Chinh's Early Life

Kieu Chinh was born in Hanoi, Vietnam, on September 3, 1937. Her full name is Nguyễn Thị Kiều Chinh.

When she was six years old, during World War II, her mother and baby brother died. They were in a hospital that was hit by a bomb. Even though this was a very sad time, her family was well-off because her father worked for the government.

After World War II, Vietnam was divided into two parts: North Vietnam and South Vietnam. Kieu Chinh's older brother joined the army in the North. Her father told her to fly to the South, hoping to find her brother and then meet her in Saigon. Sadly, after she arrived in South Vietnam, she never saw her father again.

Years later, in 1995, Kieu Chinh went back to Vietnam and met her older brother. She learned that her father had been held in a camp for over six years. After he was released, he passed away without a home or money.

A friend of her father's, Mr. Nguyễn Đại Độ, adopted Kieu Chinh. He wanted his son, Nguyễn Năng Tế, to return from America. So, in 1956, he arranged for Kieu Chinh to marry his son. Kieu Chinh's new family was Buddhist, which influenced her later career.

Kieu Chinh's Acting Career

Starting in Vietnam (1955–1975)

In 1956, Kieu Chinh was walking in Saigon when she met a famous director named Joseph L. Mankiewicz. He wanted her to act in his new movie, The Quiet American. However, her family did not want her to take the role, so she had to say no.

News spread quickly that a "Vietnamese unknown girl rejects Hollywood's famous director." Because of this, a politician named Bùi Diễm asked Kieu Chinh to star in his studio's first movie. Her family agreed to this role because she would play a Buddhist nun. This is how Kieu Chinh began her acting career in South Vietnam with the film The Bells of Thiên Mụ Temple (1957).

Kieu Chinh has been acting for over sixty years. She has won many awards, including an Emmy Award in 1996. Some of her well-known movies include Operation C.I.A. (1965) and The Joy Luck Club (1993). She also helped start and leads the Vietnam Children's Fund.

In the 1960s, she acted in American movies like A Yank in Viet-Nam (1964) and Operation C.I.A. (1965), where she acted alongside Burt Reynolds. Kieu Chinh also produced a war movie called Faceless Lover (1971). This film was later shown in the U.S. at the 2003 Vietnamese International Film Festival.

Around 1970, filmmaker Hoàng Vĩnh Lộc suggested to Kieu Chinh that they make a new kind of film. He had written a script for Faceless Lover, which was about the military. Other studios in Saigon were afraid to make it because of strict rules and because people did not like war movies. Kieu Chinh said, "We should try doing it!" They decided to create their own small studio to make the film.

At first, their studio, Giao Chỉ Films, was not allowed to make the war movie. Kieu Chinh had to ask for permission from different government groups. Finally, in the summer of 1971, they started filming. The movie was first shown at the Rex Movie Theatre, the biggest theater in South Vietnam. It was also shown at the Asian Film Festival in Taipei.

The release of Faceless Lover was delayed for over a year. The government thought it was an anti-war film and might stop young people from joining the army. In 1973, the film was shown to government officials. Kieu Chinh argued that war is always difficult. After a vote, the film was finally allowed to be shown to the public.

Faceless Lover was the first Vietnamese film to be shown at the Rex Movie Theatre, which usually showed big American movies. Kieu Chinh convinced the theater owner to show it for one week. To make sure people came, Giao Chỉ Films offered free tickets to military members and their families. The movie was a huge success, with full audiences.

The film made a lot of money, which allowed director Hoàng Vĩnh Lộc to make two more films. He also had plans for a film based on the Bible, but these plans stopped when Saigon fell in April 1975. The original film copy of Faceless Lover was lost, but Kieu Chinh had another copy. She re-released it in California in the 1980s.

Faceless Lover won awards at the Asian International Film Festival in Taipei in 1971. Hoàng Vĩnh Lộc won for Best War Film and Best Theme, and Kieu Chinh won for Best Leading Actress.

In April 1975, Kieu Chinh was filming in Singapore when she learned that North Vietnam was taking over Saigon. She tried to return to South Vietnam but then went back to Singapore using her special passport. When the South Vietnamese government fell, her passport was no longer valid, and she was sent away from Singapore. She was not allowed into France, Britain, or the U.S.

Eventually, she was allowed into Canada. She needed a job and worked on a chicken farm. She reached out to actors she knew, like Glenn Ford and Burt Reynolds, but they could not help. Finally, Tippi Hedren helped her get a plane ticket and a U.S. visa. William Holden also supported her. Kieu Chinh started acting again in the U.S. Her first role was in a 1977 episode of M*A*S*H, which was partly based on her life story.

Later Career (1976 to Present)

Kieu Chinh lived in Canada with her children for several years. After her divorce, she moved to California. She started Giao Chỉ Film Production to share Vietnamese culture and art. She worked with many artists and re-released her films Faceless Lover and Love Storm.

She continued to act in movies and TV shows, including The Children of An Lac (1980), Hamburger Hill (1987), and 21 (2008). She also became a host for Giao Chi Television in Los Angeles.

From 1989 to 1991, she played Triệu Âu in the TV show China Beach, which was about the Vietnam War.

One of her most famous roles was Suyuan in Wayne Wang’s film The Joy Luck Club in 1993. In 2005, Kieu Chinh starred in Journey from the Fall, a movie about a Vietnamese family's journey after the fall of Saigon, including their time in camps and their new life in the U.S.

In 2016, she went back to Vietnam to open the 50th school built by the Vietnam Children's Fund in Hanoi. In 2021, she released her life story in a book called Kieu Chinh An Artist in Exile.

Kieu Chinh's Personal Life and Charity Work

In the 1980s, many Vietnamese people, known as boat people, fled their country. Kieu Chinh did charity work to help them. She asked the U.S. government to help Vietnamese refugees stuck at sea or in camps.

In 1993, Kieu Chinh and journalist Terry A. Anderson started the Vietnam Children's Fund. This group builds elementary schools in Vietnam to remember families and children lost during the wars. The first school was in Quảng Trị and was named after an American veteran, Lewis Burwell Puller Jr.. By 2016, the organization had built its 50th school.

Kieu Chinh's family is Buddhist, and she became a Buddhist when she married. However, she went to a Christian school when she was young. Both religions are important in her life. In 2014, she met the 14th Dalai Lama in Dharamsala, India.

Kieu Chinh and her husband, Nang Te Nguyen, had three children. They divorced in 1980.

Kieu Chinh's Film and TV Roles

Movies

Television Shows

Awards and Honors

Kieu Chinh has received many awards for her acting and her work helping others.

• In 1990, the United States Congress named her "Refugee of the Year."
• She received the "Warrior Woman Award" from the Asian Pacific Women's Network.
• She was the only Vietnamese person asked to speak at the 10th anniversary of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC.
• In 2003, she received the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Vietnamese International Film Festival.
• The same year, she won a Special Acting Award at the Women's International Film Festival in Turin, Italy.
• In 2006, the San Diego Asian Film Festival gave her a Lifetime Achievement Award.
• In 2015, the Festival of Globe (FOGsv) honored her for her contributions to film.
• A documentary about her life, Kieu Chinh: A Journey Home, won an Emmy Awards in 1996.
• In 2009, she was named "Woman of the Year" by State Senator Lou Correa for her film work and community service.
• In 2021, she received a Humanitarian Award at the Asian World Film Festival.

Images for kids

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  Kieu Chinh