Rinko Kikuchi is a Japanese actress who was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role as Chieko, a hearing impaired girl in Alejandro González Iñárritu's 2006 film Babel.
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Brief Biography
As a teenager, Kikuchi appeared in television commercials in her native land, but her first film role was in the 1999 Japanese film Will to Live. After appearing in several other Japanese-language films in the next few years, she was cast as the deaf-mute, sensual teenager Chieko alongside Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett in Babel. In order to play the character, Kikuchi had to rely almost entirely on facial expressions and body movement to convey the inner life of the conflicted Chieko. She is slated to star alongside Adrien Brody, Rachel Weisz, and Mark Ruffalo in the upcoming crime drama, The Brothers Bloom.
