Biography
Chiaki Kuriyama is a Japanese actress, model and singer. She was born on 10 October 1984 in Tsuchiura, Japan. She began her career as a child model in the mid-1990s, appearing in magazines and photobooks, before making her film debut in Shikoku (1999). Early roles included Battle Royale (2000) as Takako Chigusa and Ju-on: The Curse (2000).
Kuriyama gained international recognition for her performance as Gogo Yubari in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003). Tarantino cast her after seeing her work in Battle Royale. She reprised the role in Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004). The fight sequence with Uma Thurman won the Best Fight award at the 2004 MTV Movie Awards.
She has continued to work in Japanese film and television, with later credits including Azumi 2: Death or Love (2005), Blade of the Immortal (2017) and Fullmetal Alchemist: The Final Alchemy (2022). Kuriyama made her singing debut in 2010 and has received awards such as the Asia Rising Star Award in 2014.
