Kieu Chinh

Biography

Kieu Chinh (born September 3rd, 1937) is a Vietnamese-American actress, producer, humanitarian, lecturer and philanthropist. One of the most prominent film stars in South Vietnam during the 60s and 70s, she immigrated to America after 1975 and eventually settled in California where she resumed acting with the help of Tippi Hedron; her first credit in America was as Hawkeye’s South Korean love interest in the TV show M*A*S*H. Subsequently, Kieu Chinh appeared in 45 feature films and television shows, among them the TV movies The Children of An Lac (1980), The Letter (1982) and The Girl Who Spelled Freedom (1986), and films like Hamburger Hill (1987), Gleaming the Cube (1988), Riot (1997) and Catfish in Black Bean Sauce (1999). She also landed a recurring role on ABC’s Vietnam war series China Beach from 1989 to 1991 and the Fox TV show 21 in 2008. But her best-known role is that of Suyuan Woo in Wayne Wang’s The Joy Luck Club in 1993, a film about the relationship between Chinese immigrant mothers and their Chinese-American mothers. Amongst the accolades that Chinh has received in her six-decade career are the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Vietnamese International Film Festival in 2003, the Special Acting Award at the Women’s Film Festival in Turin in 2003, and Lifetime Achievement Awards from the San Diego Asian Film Festival and the San Francisco Film Fest in 2006 and 2015, respectively. In 2009, Chinh was honored as the Woman of the Year for her work in film and community service by California Representative Lou Correa.

Known For

NCIS: Los Angeles

NCIS: Los Angeles

ER

Chicago Hope

Martial Law

Touched by an Angel

Touched by an Angel

The Neighborhood

All Movies (43)

• Control Freak2025 · as Aunt Thuy
• My Eyes2024 · as Mrs. Cheong
• Finding Julia2019 · as Van Tran
• In Full Bloom2019 · as Cecile
• Hollow2014 · as Shaman Linh
• Trade of Innocents2012 · as (voice)
• Pearls of the Far East2012 · as Kieu
• 21 and a Wake-Up2009 · as Mamason
• 212008 · as Chinese Woman
• Journey From the Fall2007 · as Ba Noi (Grandmother)
• Tempted2003 · as Kehau
• Face2002 · as Mrs. Liu
• Green Dragon2001 · as Kieu
• What's Cooking?2000 · as Grandma Nguyen
• Catfish in Black Bean Sauce1999 · as Thanh
• City of Angels1998 · as Asian Woman
• Riot1997 · as Mrs. Lee
• The Joy Luck Club1993 · as Suyuan Wong
• Last Flight Out1990
• The Girl Who Came Between Them1990 · as Thuy
• Vietnam Texas1990 · as Mallan
• Welcome Home1989 · as Leang
• Gleaming the Cube1989 · as Madame Trac
• Hamburger Hill1987 · as Mama San
• The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer1986 · as Sai Luhn
• The Girl Who Spelled Freedom1986 · as Phoen Yann
• Cocaine: One Man's Seduction1983 · as Mrs. Marchais
• The Letter1982 · as Chinese Woman
• The Other Victim1981 · as Mrs. Troung
• Fly Away Home1981 · as Anh
• The Children of An Lac1980 · as Thuy
• My Husband Is Missing1978 · as Lu-An
• The Lucifer Complex1978 · as Major Chinn Lee
• The Hostage Heart1977 · as Flor Aquino
• The Shadow on the Roadside1973
• Love Storm1972 · as Thủy
• Warrior, Who Are You1971 · as Mỹ Lan
• The Evil Within1970 · as Kamar Souria
• From Saigon to Dien Bien Phu1967 · as Kiều Loan
• Operation C.I.A.1965 · as Kim-Chinh
• A Yank in Viet-Nam1964 · as Kieu Chinh
• The Eyes I Used to Know1964
• Chrysalis—

All TV Shows (13)

• Dope Thief2025 · as Xuan 'Grandma' Pham
• The Sympathizer2024 · as Crapulent Major's Mother
• The Neighborhood2018 · as Tuyen
• NCIS: Los Angeles2009 · as Kim Nguyen
• NCIS: Los Angeles2009 · as Madge
• Martial Law1998 · as Lin Sung Yuan
• Promised Land1996 · as Mrs. Kim
• Cybill1995 · as Herbalist
• Touched by an Angel1994 · as Lang
• Touched by an Angel1994 · as Mrs. Kim
• ER1994 · as Mrs. Chen
• Chicago Hope1994 · as Mrs. Mai Ying Wang
• Roots: The Next Generations1979 · as U.N. Receptionist