Kirin Kiki facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Kirin Kiki
樹木 希林
Kirin Kiki at the 2015 Odesa International Film Festival
Born	Keiko Nakatani (中谷 啓子, Nakatani Keiko) (1943-01-15)January 15, 1943 Tokyo, Japan
Died	September 15, 2018(2018-09-15) (aged 75) Tokyo, Japan
Other names	Chiho Yūki (悠木千帆, Yūki Chiho) first stage name; Keiko Uchida (内田 啓子, Uchida Keiko) current legal name
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1961–2018
Spouse(s)	Shin Kishida ​ ​ (m. 1964; div. 1968)​ Yuya Uchida ​ ​ (m. 1973; died 2019)​
Children	1

Kirin Kiki (樹木 希林, Kiki Kirin) (15 January 1943 – 15 September 2018) was a Japanese actress for Japanese cinema and television.

Biography

Kiki was born on January 15, 1943, in Kanda, Tokyo. Her father was a master of the biwa lute and a former police officer. Her mother owned a cafe in Jinbōchō, Tokyo and a restaurant in Noge, Yokohama, the latter being Kiki's maternal parents' home. Her mother was seven years senior to her father and had a child from both her two previous marriages.

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). 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. 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."

While battling various ailments, including a detached retina in 2003 and breast cancer in 2005, Kiki continued to act and won several awards, including the best actress Japan Academy Prize for Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad in 2008, the best supporting actress award from the Yokohama Film Festival for her work in Kamikaze Girls and Half a Confession in 2004, and the best supporting actress Blue Ribbon Award for Still Walking in 2008.

Personal life

Kiki married fellow Bungakuza actor Shin Kishida. They separated in 1968. She married musician Yuya Uchida in 1973, and remained legally married to him though they separated in 1975. Their daughter, Yayako Uchida, is an essayist and musician, and portrayed the younger self of Kiki's character in the film Tokyo Tower: Mom and Me, and Sometimes Dad. Yayako Uchida is married to the actor Masahiro Motoki, who was adopted into the Uchida family as a mukoyōshi. Kirin's granddaughter Kyara Uchida has appeared with her in two films, I Wish and Sweet Bean.

Kiki was diagnosed with cancer in 2004 and underwent a mastectomy. She died of cancer, and related illnesses, on 15 September 2018.

Selected filmography

Film

Television

• Shadow Warriors (1980-1986) - Orin
• Hanekonma (1986) - Yae (Hanekonma's mother)
• Tobu ga Gotoku (1990) - Ikushima
• Kimi no Na wa (1991)
• Aoi (2000) - Lady Kasuga

Honours

• Medal with Purple Ribbon (2008)
• Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2014)

See also

In Spanish: Kirin Kiki para niños