For some, silence is golden. It’s certainly working for Rinko Kikuchi, who has so far stolen two high-profile Hollywood movies by barely saying a word. Already a star in her native Japan, the 27-year-old actress won a U.S. fan base when she appeared in Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu’s 2006 drama Babel. Kikuchi stood out, as an emotionally tortured deaf-mute teen desperately seeking intimacy, be it love or simply sex. Her raw, naked (literally) performance earned an Oscar nomination for Best Supporting Actress. She didn’t nab the little gold man, she sparkled on the red carpet. “The ceremony seemed to go by in a second,” she says now.” I tired very hard to stay calm throughout it all.”

Kikuchi remains cool, calm and voiceless in her second U.S. film, The Brothers Bloom. In the con artist capper she plays Bang Bang, a gal Friday to the titular sibling grifters, Stephen and Bloom (Mark Ruffalo and Adrien Brody, respectively). If Stephen is the brains and Bloom is the heart, then Bang Bang is the muscle, ready to satisfy the brothers needs, even filling Barbie doll heads with nitroglycerin. “Bang Bang is such an enigmatic character,” Kikuchi says. “She knows more and has secrets than anyone else. That’s why she doesn’t speak.” Of course, the film eventually reveals that Bang Bang does know three crucial English words: “Campari” and “Fuck me.” And really, isn’t that all you need to get by n this life of sin?

Want more Rinko? Then check out the October/November issue of GIANT!