Kieu Chinh was born in 1937 in Hanoi, North Vietnam. In 1945, her mother passed away—a victim of Allied Forces’ bombs against Japanese troops occupying Vietnam. Following the Geneva Agreement in 1954, Vietnam was divided into two parts, her family in three: her father and brothers were stuck in the North, her elder sister emigrated to France, and Ms. Chinh was lost in the wave of refugees going to the South. Alone, she became a refugee in her own homeland at the age of seventeen.

Three years later in Saigon, Ms. Chinh started her career as a movie actress and soon became successful with leading roles in twenty-two feature films in Vietnam, India, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Taiwan. She starred in American productions shot in Asia, such as The CIA Operations, A Yank in Vietnam, Devil Within, and Destination Vietnam. Ms. Chinh was given the Best Actress Award in Vietnam in 1969 and in the Asia Film Festival in 1973. She also hosted a television talk show interviewing Hollywood stars.

Following the collapse of Saigon in 1975, Ms. Chinh again became a refugee and landed in California. She began her new life as an exiled movie actress at the age of thirty-eight. Two years later she appeared with Alan Alda in the television series M*A*S*H. She then co-starred with Lee Remic in The Letter (1981), and with Kris Kristofferson in Welcome Home (1989). At present, Ms. Chinh has contributed her talent to over 100 television shows and movies, including The Girl Who Spelled Freedom (1985), China Beach (1990-1991), The Joy Luck Club (1993), City of Angels (1997), Catfish in Blackbean Sauce (1999), What’s Cooking (2000), Face (2001), and Returning Lily (2003). In 2003, Entertainment Weekly selected one of Ms. Chinh’s tear jerking scenes in The Joy Luck Club as the winner of the “Kleenex Moment”.

As a Vietnamese American immigrant, Ms. Chinh is a well-known figure in the Vietnamese community. She contributes extensively to cultural and humanitarian activities and was honored by the U.S. Congress in 1990. She is lecturer of The Greater Talent Network, Inc. (GTN-New York) and a speaker at hundreds of cultural conventions and academic conferences in America. In 1992, she delivered the speech commemorating the tenth anniversary of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington, DC. In 2002, she delivered the inaugural speech at the U.S. Women’s Day in California, while Mrs. Tipper Gore delivered the closing speech. Since 1993, with Terry Anderson and Vietnam veteran Lewis B. Puller, Jr., Ms. Chinh has served as the founder and co-chair of the Vietnam Children’s Fund, a non-profit organization that built a network of elementary schools in Vietnam dedicated to over two millions lives lost in the war. This organization teaches 58,000 pupils each year—as many children as there are names on the Vietnam Memorial Wall.

For her achievement as an actress and community promoter, Ms. Chinh has been honored with multiple awards including: the Woman Warrior Award (1986), by the Asian Pacific Woman Network (APWN); Refugee of the Year (1990), by the U.S. House of Representatives; Emmy Award (1996), The Academy of Television Arts & Sciences for “Kieu Chinh: A Journey Home”; The 10th Festival International Cinema Award (2003), Dell Donne, Italy, alongside Shirley McLaine; and the Lifetime Achievement Award (2003), the Vietnamese International Film Festival.

Additional Resources: More about Kieu Chinh View video of Ms. Chinh accepting her award at the AILF Annual Benefit, on June 24, 2005.