Rinko Kikuchi facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Rinko Kikuchi
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| 菊地 凛子 | |
Kikuchi at the Berlin Film Festival, February 2015
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| Born |
Yuriko Kikuchi
January 6, 1981 Hadano, Kanagawa, Japan
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| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1999–present |
| Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 6+1⁄2 in) |
| Spouse(s) |
Shōta Sometani
(m. 2014) |
| Children | 2 |
Rinko Kikuchi (菊地 凛子, Kikuchi Rinko, born Yuriko Kikuchi (菊地 百合子, Kikuchi Yuriko), January 6, 1981) is a Japanese actress. She is known for her roles in many movies and TV shows.
Rinko Kikuchi made history as the first Japanese actress in 50 years to be nominated for an Academy Award. This was for her role in the movie Babel (2006). She also starred in Norwegian Wood (2010) and the science fiction action film Pacific Rim (2013). For her work in Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter (2014), she was nominated for an Independent Spirit Award. You can currently see her in the crime drama series Tokyo Vice on HBO Max.
Early Life and Start in Acting
Rinko Kikuchi was born on January 6, 1981, in Hadano, Kanagawa, Japan. She is the youngest of three children. When she was 15 years old, a talent agent discovered her on the street. This is how she began her journey into acting.
Becoming a Star
Rinko Kikuchi started her acting career in 1999. Her first movie was Will to Live. In 2001, she starred in Sora no Ana, which was shown at many international film festivals. She also appeared in The Taste of Tea in 2004, a film that was chosen for the Cannes Film Festival.
Her big break came in 2006 with the movie Babel. In this film, she played Chieko Wataya, a troubled teenage girl who is deaf. Her performance got a lot of attention around the world. She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. It was special because she was the fourth person in Academy Award history to be nominated for a role where her character does not speak. She won several other awards for this role, including the National Board of Review Award for Best Breakthrough Female Performance. Since Babel, Rinko has worked on many films outside of Japan. She also makes music under the name Rinbjö.
She has worked with director Mamoru Oshii on films like The Sky Crawlers (2008) and Assault Girls (2009). Her first full English-language movie was The Brothers Bloom (2009). Even though she was a main character, she only spoke three words in the film!
In 2010, Rinko played Naoko in the movie Norwegian Wood, based on a famous book. She also appeared in 47 Ronin (2013), which is an English movie about a Japanese samurai legend. In 2013, she starred in Pacific Rim. She even improved her English by watching the American TV show The Voice for this role!
In 2014, she starred in Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter. Later, she joined the cast of the HBO science fiction series Westworld in its second season.
More recently, Rinko Kikuchi plays Emi Maruyama in the 2022 HBO Max series Tokyo Vice. Emi is the boss of the main character, Jake Adelstein. In 2024, she was featured on the official poster for the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival. She also helped guide the audience at the festival's events as its "navigator."
Life Outside of Acting
From 2010 to 2011, Rinko Kikuchi was in a relationship with director Spike Jonze. She lived in New York for a short time during this period.
Rinko Kikuchi married Japanese actor Shōta Sometani on December 31, 2014. They welcomed their first child in October 2016, and their second child was born in late 2018.
See also
In Spanish: Rinko Kikuchi para niños
- Asian Americans in arts and entertainment
- List of Asian Academy Award winners and nominees
