Kirin Kiki
Kirin Kiki (樹木 希林 Kiki Kirin) (born 15 January 1943) is a Japanese actress known for her work in cinema and television.
Kiki was born in the Kanda area of Tokyo as the daughter of a master of the biwa lute.1 After graduating from high school, she started her acting career in the early 1960s as a member of the Bungakuza theater troupe using the stage name Chiho Yūki (悠木千帆).2 She eventually gained fame for performing uniquely comedic and eccentric roles on such television shows as Jikan desu yo and Terauchi Kantarō ikka and in television commercials.2 She changed her name to "Kirin Kiki" when, after being asked on a television show to auction off something of hers, she ended up selling her first stage name, claiming she had "nothing else to sell."1 While battling various ailments, including a detached retina in 2003 and breast cancer in 2005,3 Kiki has continued to act and has won several awards, including the best actress Japan Academy Prize for Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad in 2008,4, the best supporting actress award from the Yokohama Film Festival for her work in Kamikaze Girls and Half a Confession in 2004,5 and the best supporting actress Blue Ribbon Award for Still Walking in 2008.6 She was once married to the fellow Bungakuza actor Shin Kishida, but they divorced in 1968, and her husband now is the rock musician Yuya Uchida.1 In the film Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad, Kiki plays a character who is performed at a younger age by Kirin's real-life daughter Yayako Uchida. Yayako is married to the actor Masahiro Motoki,1 who was adopted into the Uchida family as a mukoyōshi.7
Selected filmography
- Zigeunerweisen (ツィゴイネルワイゼン, Tsigoineruwaizen) (1980)
- The Triple Cross (いつかギラギラする日, Itsuka giragira suru hi) (1992)
- Pistol Opera (ピストルオペラ, Pisutoru Opera) (2001)
- Returner (リターナー, Ritana) (2002)
- Kamikaze Girls (下妻物語 Shimotsuma monogatari) (2004)
- Half a Confession (半落ち, Han'ochi) (2004)
- Still Walking (歩いても 歩いても Aruitemo aruitemo) (2008)
- Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad (東京タワー 〜オカンとボクと、時々、オトン〜, Tōkyō tawaa ~ okan to boku to, tokidoki, oton ~?) (2008)
- The Borrower Arrietty (借りぐらしのアリエッティ, Karigurashi no Arrietti) (2010)
References
- ^ a b c d "Kiki Kirin" (in Japanese). Tarento meikan. Sponichi Annex. http://www.sponichi.co.jp/entertainment/meikan/ka/kikikirin.html. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
- ^ a b "Kiki Kirin" (in Japanese). Nihon jinmei daijiten. Kodansha. http://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%A8%B9%E6%9C%A8%E5%B8%8C%E6%9E%97. Retrieved 21 July 2010.
- ^ "Asahi shinbun shinpojiumu: Gan ni makenai, akiramenai kotsu" (in Japanese). Asahi shinbun. 25 March 2006. http://www.asahi.com/sympo/060428/. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- ^ "Dai 31-kai Nihon Academī Shō yūshū sakuhin" (in Japanese). Nihon Academī Shō kōshiki saito. http://www.japan-academy-prize.jp/prizes/?t=31. Retrieved 19 July 2010.
- ^ "Dai 25-kai Yokohama Eigasai: Nihon eiga kojin shō" (in Japanese). Yokohama Eigasai. http://homepage3.nifty.com/yokohama-eigasai/26-2004/26_2004_shou.html. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- ^ "Burū Ribon Shō hisutorī 2008" (in Japanese). Cinema Hochi. http://cinemahochi.yomiuri.co.jp/b_award/2008/. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
- ^ "Motoki Masahiro" (in Japanese). Nihon jinmei daijiten. Kodansha. http://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9C%AC%E6%9C%A8%E9%9B%85%E5%BC%98. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
External links
- Kirin Kiki at the Internet Movie Database
- (Japanese) Kiki Kirin at the Japanese Movie Database
