Actress Rinko Kikuchi was born on January 6, 1981, in Kanagawa Prefecture. She was scouted in Harajuku in 1996 and began her career as a model. She made her film debut in 1999 in director Kaneto Shindo's I Want to Live, and subsequently appeared in popular films directed by Kazuya Kumakiri and Katsuhito Ishii. In 2006, she played a deaf-mute high school girl in Alejandro González Iñárritu's Babel, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award and a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. This work led to her appearing in a series of popular films, including Shanghai, Map of the Sounds of Tokyo, Norwegian Wood, and Pacific Rim.

She is active not only in the film industry but also in the fashion industry, having been appointed as an advertising model for "CHANEL" and "KENZO," and last year was selected as a model for a collaborative photo book by "VIVIENNE TAM" and "LESLIE KEE."

She plays the role of a mysterious witch in the currently released film "47 Ronin," directed by Carl Rinsch and starring Keanu Reeves.