Sugimoto began her career as a model and television personality. She made her film debut in Hot Springs Mimizu Geisha (1971), which starred Reiko Ike. Sugimoto's and Ike's careers would become closely linked in several of Toei's Pinky Violent films, in which they were usually cast as rivals. In 1973, Sugimoto won one of the Newcomer of the Year Awards at the Élan d'or Awards given by the All Nippon Producers Association (ANPA).
Sugimoto's best-known solo role was in Zero Woman - Red Handcuffs, the "over-the-top" crime film from (1974). When Toei expanded into the European market in the 1970s, Sugimoto's 1973 film Girl Boss: Escape From Reform School was released by Telemondial in France as Girl Boss – Les etudiantes en caval. In 1978 she abandoned her film career for marriage, and later became a nursery school teacher. Edit Biography