She won the award for best supporting actress at the 23rd Japan Academy Prize for Kikujiro.

Kishimoto gained popularity for her commercials, including a Manzai double act with Kirin Kiki in the 1980s, Fujifilm, Orient Finance and her performance alongside Sonny Chiba in Toyota Carina commercials.

Recently she appeared in several Takeshi Kitano films playing characters with complex personalities.

She continues to appear in television dramas and variety shows and wrote essays and novels.

Kiwako Taichi and Tomoko Naraoka introduced Hibari to Kishimoto.