Rinko Kikuchi

Rinko Kikuchi landed her first professional role in the Japanese film "Ikitai" (To Live) in 1999.

Since then, she began displaying her talent as an actress starring in critically acclaimed Japanese films such as "Hole In The Sky" and "The Taste of Tea" and gaining popularity within Japan’s film industry.

It was not long before she was catapulted onto the international scene with her Academy Award nominated role for Best Supporting Actress in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s "Babel."

Playing the role of a young deaf high school girl Chieko with fervent energy and commitment, Rinko achieved an outstanding reputation around the world for her dramatic performance and the film garnered seven Academy Award nominations, securing her status as one of Hollywood’s leading young actresses.

Rinko followed up her success with a number of highly acclaimed international films such as Rian Johnson’s "The Brothers Bloom" with Adrien Brody and Rachel Weisz, Isabel Coixet’s "Map of the Sounds of Tokyo" with Serge Lopez, Mikael Håfström’s "Shanghai" with John Cusack and Ken Watanabe, and Anh Hung Tran’s "Norwegian Wood," a highly anticipated adaptation of Haruki Murakami’s international best-selling novel of the same name.

Rinko was recently seen inf "47 Ronin," a Hollywood adaptation of an old Japanese samurai legend combining elements of a historic epic and fantasy, starring Keanu Reeves.