---
name: "Kieu Chinh"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/kieu-chinh"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "3 July 1937"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 2
average_fi1m_score: 73
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 2
updated: "2026-09-17T13:37:22.309027+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Kieu Chinh

Actor. Born 3 July 1937 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 3 July 1937, Hanoi, Vietnam
- **Active:** 2024–present
- **Also known as:** Nguyễn Thị Chinh, Kiều Chinh
- **Average Fi1m score:** 73, as actor, over 2 titles
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kieu_Chinh, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1320245, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0157905/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/143432

## Streaming the US now

- **HBO Max:** [*The Sympathizer*](https://film.one/tv/the-sympathizer.md) (72)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Biography

Kieu Chinh is a Vietnamese-American actress. She began her career in South Vietnam in the late 1950s and appeared in numerous films across Asia before 1975.

After fleeing Vietnam following the fall of Saigon, she settled in the United States with sponsorship from Tippi Hedren. Her American screen debut came in the M*A*S*H episode "In Love and War" (1977). Subsequent credits include Hamburger Hill (1987), The Joy Luck Club (1993) as Suyuan Woo, and recurring roles in China Beach (1989–1991) and 21 (2008).

She played Crapulent Major's Mother in the 2024 series The Sympathizer. Chinh has received several lifetime achievement awards, including from the Vietnamese International Film Festival in 2003 and the San Diego Asian Film Festival in 2006.

*Sources: vanityfair.com, en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com, kieu-chinh.com.*

## On Fi1m (2)

- *Dope Thief* (2025), Fi1m 74, as Xuan 'Grandma' Pham — [page](https://film.one/tv/dope-thief.md)
- *The Sympathizer* (2024), Fi1m 72, as Crapulent Major's Mother — [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sympathizer.md)

## Complete filmography (54)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Chrysalis* (2026), Acting
- *Dope Thief* (2025), series, as Xuan 'Grandma' Pham — Fi1m 74, [page](https://film.one/tv/dope-thief.md)
- *Control Freak* (2025), as Aunt Thuy
- *My Eyes* (2024), as Mrs. Cheong
- *The Sympathizer* (2024), series, as Crapulent Major's Mother — Fi1m 72, [page](https://film.one/tv/the-sympathizer.md)
- *Finding Julia* (2019), Van Tran, Writer
- *In Full Bloom* (2019), as Cecile
- *The Neighborhood* (2018), series, as Tuyen
- *Hollow* (2014), as Shaman Linh
- *Trade of Innocents* (2012), as (voice)
- *Pearls of the Far East* (2012), as Kieu
- *21 and a Wake-Up* (2009), as Mamason
- *NCIS: Los Angeles* (2009), series, as Kim Nguyen, Madge
- *21* (2008), as Chinese Woman
- *Journey from the Fall* (2007), as Ba Noi (Grandmother)
- *Tempted* (2003), as Kehau
- *Face* (2002), as Mrs. Liu
- *Green Dragon* (2001), as Kieu
- *What's Cooking?* (2000), as Grandma Nguyen
- *Catfish in Black Bean Sauce* (1999), as Thanh
- *Martial Law* (1998), series, as Lin Sung Yuan
- *City of Angels* (1998), as Asian Woman
- *Riot* (1997), as Mrs. Lee
- *Promised Land* (1996), series, as Mrs. Kim
- *Cybill* (1995), series, as Herbalist
- *Touched by an Angel* (1994), series, as Lang, Mrs. Kim
- *ER* (1994), series, as Mrs. Chen — Fi1m 88, [page](https://film.one/tv/er.md)
- *Chicago Hope* (1994), series, as Mrs. Mai Ying Wang
- *The Joy Luck Club* (1993), as Suyuan Wong
- *Last Flight Out* (1990), Acting
- *The Girl Who Came Between Them* (1990), as Thuy
- *Vietnam Texas* (1990), as Mallan
- *Welcome Home* (1989), as Leang
- *Gleaming the Cube* (1989), as Madame Trac
- *Hamburger Hill* (1987), as Mama San
- *The Return of Mickey Spillane's Mike Hammer* (1986), as Sai Luhn
- *The Girl Who Spelled Freedom* (1986), as Phoen Yann
- *Cocaine: One Man's Seduction* (1983), as Mrs. Marchais
- *The Letter* (1982), as Chinese Woman
- *The Other Victim* (1981), as Mrs. Troung
- *Fly Away Home* (1981), as Anh
- *The Children of An Lac* (1980), as Thuy
- *Roots: The Next Generations* (1979), series, as U.N. Receptionist
- *My Husband Is Missing* (1978), as Lu-An
- *The Lucifer Complex* (1978), as Major Chinn Lee
- *The Hostage Heart* (1977), as Flor Aquino
- *The Shadow on the Roadside* (1973), Acting
- *Love Storm* (1972), as Thủy
- *Warrior, Who Are You* (1971), as Mỹ Lan
- *The Evil Within* (1970), as Kamar Souria
- *From Saigon to Dien Bien Phu* (1967), as Kiều Loan
- *Operation C.I.A.* (1965), as Kim-Chinh
- *A Yank in Viet-Nam* (1964), as Kieu Chinh
- *The Eyes I Used to Know* (1964), Acting

## Gallery

- ![Kieu Chinh](https://film.one/media/person/380779/gallery-26a896433aca.jpg) Kieu Chinh — CBS Television, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Kieu_Chinh_MASH_1977.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Kieu Chinh](https://film.one/media/person/380779/gallery-2a02e878787f.jpg) Kieu Chinh — Image via TMDB
- ![Kieu Chinh](https://film.one/media/person/380779/gallery-61f74d58682f.jpg) Kieu Chinh — Image via TMDB
- ![Kieu Chinh](https://film.one/media/person/380779/gallery-ee06bfa6ae93.jpg) Kieu Chinh — Image via TMDB
- ![Kieu Chinh](https://film.one/media/person/380779/gallery-e857e6526c85.jpg) Kieu Chinh — Image via TMDB

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/kieu-chinh