Young actress Rinko Kikuchi has been delighting Japanese audiences since her film debut in 1999’s “Will to Live”, and has since appeared in a slew of feature films and commercials. Born in Kanagawa, Japan on January 6, 1981, Kikuchi has come to the attention of the international film scene with her role in Alejandro González Iñárritu’s intense drama “Babel”. The award-winning film, which won the Best Director prize at Cannes, also stars Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Adriana Barraza, and Gael García Bernal. Kikuchi plays a deaf-mute Tokyo teenager wrestling with her budding sexuality in a world that she can’t adequately communicate with. It is arguably the standout performance of the film, and she has received the Breakthrough Award from the National Board of Review in addition to a Golden Globe nomination for Best Supporting Actress.