Meiko Kaji first began work in the film industry under the name Masako Ota at Nikkatsu studio in 1965. Beginning in 1970, with little success but extensive experience in the movie business, under the name Meiko Kaji, she was cast in more or less important roles in director Yasuharu Hasebe‎'s Alleycat Rock series. The films concern juvenile girl gang confrontations and, although inventive, they suffer from poor scripts throughout the series. In 1971 Nikkatsu started moving into the financially lucrative pink film business. To avoid this Kaji moved to Toei where she met director Shunya Ito and made four women in prison films in the Female Prisoner Scorpion series, which made her famous throughout Japan. The films were adapted from a well-known manga by Toru Shinohara. In the fourth installment Toei replaced director Shunya Ito with Yasuharu Hasebe, a decision that Kaji was unhappy about, and she subsequently left the series, which continued until 1998 with six new installments of markedly lesser quality.

In 1973 she took on the role of Yuki in the revenge-themed film Lady Snowblood, which later gained popularity as a cult film in the West. It was based on a manga by Kazuo Koike who also created the Crying Freeman and Lone Wolf and Cub manga series. The film was one of the inspirations for Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill films. It was followed by the sequel, Lady Snowblood 2: Love Song of Vengeance.

Kaji went on to appear in several of Kinji Fukasaku's films, most notably Yakuza Graveyard (1976). In 1978, she starred in a film adaptation of Sonezaki Shinju, for which she earned nominations for Best Actress at five different awards shows, winning four of them. The film had remained unseen by many of her fans, due to the fact that for many years, it had never been released on video or DVD. However, the film was released on Region 2 DVD on June 25, 2008. Kaji's singing career was closely tied to her movie career, and she often sang on the soundtracks of films in which she starred. The theme song to Lady Snowblood, "Shura no Hana" (修羅の花?, lit. "Flower of Carnage"), and the theme song of the Sasori series, "Urami Bushi" (怨み節?, lit. "Grudge Melody"), both sung by Kaji, were used in Quentin Tarantino's Kill Bill. Kaji has been active in television since the 1980s. In 1989 she portrayed Omasa, an informant, in the television jidaigeki Onihei Hankachō (the Shochiku–Fuji Television version starring kabuki actor Nakamura Kichiemon II).

3rd Hochi Film Award

Setsuko Hara (1951) · Isuzu Yamada (1952) · Nobuko Otowa (1953) · Hideko Takamine (1954) · Chikage Awashima (1955) · Isuzu Yamada (1956) · Yuuko Mochizuki (1957) · Fujiko Yamamoto (1958) · Tanie Kitabayashi (1959) · Keiko Kishi (1960) · Ayako Wakao (1961) · Sayuri Yoshinaga (1962) · Sachiko Hidari (1963) · Shima Iwashita (1964) · Ayako Wakao (1965) · Youko Tsukasa (1966) · Ruriko Asaoka (1975) · Kumiko Akiyoshi (1976) · Shima Iwashita (1977) · Meiko Kaji (1978) · Kaori Momoi (1979) · Yukiyo Toake (1980) · Keiko Matsuzaka (1981) · Masako Natsume (1982) · Yūko Tanaka (1983) · Hiroko Yakushimaru (1984) · Yukiyo Toake (1985) · Ayumi Ishida (1986) · Yoshiko Mita (1987) · Kaori Momoi (1988) · Yoshiko Tanaka (1989) · Keiko Matsuzaka (1990) · Youki Kudoh (1991) · Yoshiko Mita (1992) · Ruby Moreno (1993) · Saki Takaoka (1994) · Miho Nakayama (1995) · Kaori Momoi (1997) · Mieko Harada (1998) · Kyōka Suzuki (1999) · Sayuri Yoshinaga (2000) · Yūki Amami (2001) · Reiko Kataoka (2002) · Shinobu Terajima (2003) · Rie Miyazawa (2004) · Kyōko Koizumi (2005) · Yū Aoi (2006) · Kumiko Aso (2007) · Tae Kimura (2008)

Kumiko Akiyoshi (1976) · Shima Iwashita (1977) · Meiko Kaji (1978) · Junko Miyashita (1979) · Chieko Baishō (1980) · Keiko Matsuzaka (1981) · Kaori Momoi (1982) · Masako Natsume (1983) · Sayuri Yoshinaga (1984) · Mitsuko Baisho (1985) · Ayumi Ishida (1986) · Shinobu Ōtake (1987) · Narumi Yasuda (1988) · Yoshiko Tanaka (1989) · Keiko Matsuzaka (1990) · Youki Kudoh (1991) · Misa Shimizu (1992) · Ruby Moreno (1993) · Saki Takaoka (1994) · Miho Nakayama (1995) · Mieko Harada (1996) · Hitomi Kuroki (1997) · Mieko Harada (1998) · Jun Fubuki (1999) · Naomi Fujiyama (2000) · Kyōko Koizumi (2001) · Rie Miyazawa (2002) · Shinobu Terajima (2003) · Takako Matsu (2004) · Yūko Tanaka (2005) · Miki Nakatani (2006) · Kumiko Aso (2007) · Kyōko Koizumi (2008) · Takako Matsu (2009)