Kayoko Kishimoto (岸本加世子 Kishimoto Kayoko, born 29 December 1960 in Shizuoka, Japan) is an actress.

She has appeared in several of Takeshi Kitano's films, such as Hana-bi, Kikujiro and Dolls. She won the award for best supporting actress at the 23rd Japan Academy Prize for Kikujiro.



In 1976 at a Hideki Saijo concert in Yokohama Dreamland Kishimoto was scouted by Saijo's then agents Geiei and joined the agency. She debuted in the 1977 TBS drama "Mu" and first appeared as an idol in TV dramas, movies and commercials being active in many fields including singing. She went on to became a serious TV and movie actress winning several well known awards.

Kishimoto has also gained popularity for her appearances in various commercials including a Manzai double act with Kirin Kiki in the 1980s Fujifilm adverts, the Orient Finance (now Orient Corporation) commercials and her performance alongside Sonny Chiba in the Toyota Carina commercials (for the 3rd and 4th fourth generation models.)

Recently she has appeared in several of Takeshi Kitano's films playing characters with complex and individual personalities. She continues to appear in television dramas and variety shows and has also exercised her literary talents writing essays and novels. She is well known for being an uninhibited actress not afraid to speak her mind.

Kishimoto is on extremely good terms with boxer Joichiro Tatsuyoshi , their relationship almost like that of real siblings. In her later years Hibari Misora was very fond of Kishimoto and treated her like her own daughter. It was Kiwako Taichi and Tomoko Naraoka who had introduced Hibari to Kishimoto.



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