Helen Nishikawa (Japanese: 西川 ヘレン, Hepburn: Nishikawa Heren) [born Helen Sugimoto (杉本 ヘレン, Sugimoto Heren);[1] 6 October 1946] is a female Japanese TV presenter and actress.
In Japan single-parent women generally have a lower social status, as did entertainers and as an American Japanese shortly after World War II, Sugimoto suffered much bullying in her early age.
Her purity and eagerness was loved by audiences and she immediately became one of the leading actresses in Yoshimoto New Comedy.
Sugimoto, already a star, married a lowly actor in the Yoshimoto Kogyo theatre company called Kiyoshi Nishikawa who went on to become the most successful entertainer of the manzai and owarai styles (traditional Japanese stand-up comedy involving two performers) in the 1970s and 1980s.
She still acts or presents on Japanese TV programs mainly oriented for housewives or older women.