Chiyoko Fujiwara

Chiyoko Fujiwara is the main character from Millennium Actress.

Personality
As a child, Chiyoko viewed Japan as a dangerous world because of fascist rule. Her life was changed when she met the nameless artist and she fell in love with him. As an actress, Chiyoko didn't care about the movies, as she insisted on finding the man and returning his key. She never gave up in hopes of finding him, until one day on the set of a science fiction movie, an earthquake struck and nearly killed her. She then left the acting business and went into hiding.

She's was shy for a majority of her life, but she's also a kind, sweet, romantic, innocent and brave girl.

Early Life
Chiyoko was born during the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923 that struck her home on the main island of Honshū in Japan. Her father was killed in the earthquake and she commented that his life was traded for hers. She lived with her mother, who took over the family shop. While growing up, fascism had taken over the government of Japan and Chiyoko commented that it was a dangerous world. She was a girls magazine model, having her photos taken and she hoped of finding her "Prince Charming".

When she was in middle school, the director of Ginei Studios spotted her and wanted her to portray in a movie for the soldiers fighting in China, but her mother won't hear of this. Chiyoko runs off and meets a wounded man, fleeing from police. He hides in the park, while Chiyoko points the police in another direction. She tends to the man's wounds and hides him in the back of her shop. He claims to be an artist and dreams of a better future for Japan. Chiyoko then falls in love with him.

Unfortunately, the man is forced to flee, again when he was discovered. Chiyoko discovers the key to his suitcase of art supplies and she rushes to the train station. She is unable to make it onto the train and promises herself to find the man.

Life As An Actress
Chiyoko decides to go against her mother's wishes and becomes an actress for Ginei Studios. In her first movie project she meets the famed, but bitter Eiko Shimao and the director's son, Junichi Otaki.

She continues to star in period films, such as a princess of the Sengoku time, a geisha of the Edo period, and an astronaut in a future arc. She becomes famous around Japan and she continues to star in films, in hopes of finding the man she fell in love. It's not until later in the 1950's that during filming of her science film, an earthquake struck, nearly killing her. She is saved by a young Tachibana, but she runs off in tears. It is then at that time she suddenly quit and went into hiding.

Present
Many years passed, Genya Tachibana is now a director of Lotus Studios and seeks out the now elderly Chiyoko Fujiwara for a documentary he wishes to film. With Kyoji, the camerman, both he and Tachibana are drawn into Chiyoko's memories of her being an actress. When she starts talking about the end of her career, she states that after Tachibana saved her, she realized that she wasn't the girl the artist would remember. She then collapses and an earthquake strikes. Chiyoko is taken to the hospital, where she offers her final goodbye to Tachibana and Kyoji and thanks them for asking much of her. She peacefully dies and enters on into the next life, in hopes of finding the artist once more.

Trivia

 * The name Chiyoko means "thousand" (千) (chi), "generation" (代) (yo) and "child" (子) (ko).
 * Chiyoko's surname Fujiwara means "wisteria" (藤) (fuji) and "field" (原) (wara).