Keiko Kishi

Keiko Kishi (岸 惠子, born 11 August 1932 in Yokohama, Japan) is a distinguished Japanese actress, writer, and long‑standing Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA). She began her cinematic journey at the tender age of nineteen, making her debut in Noboru Nakamura’s Home Sweet Home (1951), and quickly became a prominent figure in post‑war Japanese cinema, appearing in celebrated works such as The Idiot (1951), The Thick‑Walled Room (1953/1956), and Kenji Mizoguchi’s The Garden of Women (1954). Throughout the 1950s and 1960s Kishi collaborated with acclaimed directors, delivering nuanced performances in films like Snow Country (1957), Kwaidan (1964), and The Yakuza (1974), while also gaining international attention when director David Lean considered her for the lead in The Wind Cannot Read. In 1957 she married French filmmaker Yves Ciampi, a union that led her to split her time between Paris and Tokyo, enriching her artistic perspective and expanding her linguistic abilities. The couple’s daughter, Delphine Ciampi, was born in 1963 and pursued a career as a musician and composer, continuing the family’s creative legacy. After her divorce in 1975, Kishi remained a prolific figure on screen and stage, earning critical acclaim—including the Japan Academy Prize for Best Actress for Kah‑chan (2002)—and receiving the Kinuyo Tanaka Award (1990) and the Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class (2004). Beyond acting, she has authored several books, contributed to cultural discourse, and, since 1996, has used her public platform to advocate for reproductive health and women’s rights worldwide as a UNFPA Goodwill Ambassador, cementing her status as both an artistic and humanitarian icon.