Bae Jongok is a female actor who enjoyed her heyday in Korean movies and dramas in the 1990s and 2000s. She made her debut as a KBS special TV actor in 1985 and acted in TV series for a while. After that, she starred as Gina, a new generation female college student loved by Chil-su (Park Joonghoon), in the masterpiece Chil-su and Man-su (1988), which captures the Korean social situation in the 1980s. In Portrait of the Days of Youth (1991), Bae played Jeomsun, a barmaid who shared feelings with immature Younghoon (Jeong Boseok), a wandering young man who tried to find his own self, and saved him from the crisis of death. Bae Jongok showed a three-dimensional character who was secular but humane. The film allowed her to gain attention for her acting and let her win the Best Supporting Actress at the Grand Bell Awards, securing her position as an excellent female actor. In Walking All The Way To Heaven (1992), she played Jisook, a pickpocket woman who dreamed of a rise in social status. She sobbed when Mulsae (Jeong Boseok) died, who resembled her, showing stable performance with her unique calm voice.

After making success in the film world, Bae Jongok starred in popular TV series at KBS, MBC, and SBS, loved by viewers for her differentiated image of a chic modern woman, unlike female characters in the existing melodramas. Rather than simply being rebellious, she played characters who flexibly captured the women’s emotions and changes of time in the 1990s, and her performance, which was good at empathizing, was more prominent by reflecting the troubles and conflicts that those women suffered at that time. Bae’s chic and mature image of making free choices in life goals and relationships continued to the films in the 2000s. In Jealousy Is My Middle Name (2003), Bae Jongok played Park Seongyeon, who changed her job as a photographer. She exuded middle-aged charms as a down-to-earth woman who enjoyed love with two men from the magazine company. In Love Talk (2005), Bae played Sunny, who runs a massage shop in downtown LA, expressing the emptiness of life and love. In the two films, Bae adds the agony of life to her image along with her free-spirited charms. She had a softness as if she could embrace everyone, but on one side, there was a loneliness that she could not hide.

After that, Bae Jongok began to stand out again in films not as someone’s lover but as a mother. In Herb (2007), she appeared as a tough mother who took care of her mentally retarded daughter. In The Most Beautiful Goodbye (2011), she played a typical Korean mother who silently sacrificed herself while doing housework for her family, wetting the eyes of the audience with the role of a mother with cancer. In In Between Seasons (2018), Bae played the mother who changed her heart after learning the hidden love of her son in a vegetative state, and in Innocence, she played the speaker of a mother with dementia who became a murder suspect. In the heartbreaking story of mother and daughter, Bae expressed the sorrow for not being able to protect her daughter. She has continued to appear in popular TV series including Graceful Family and Mr. Queen as well as active on the theatrical stage. In 2018, Bae Jongok received a rave review when she starred in The Truth, the play written by Florian Zeller, a French writer. Bae recently appeared in the play The Dressing Room, which depicts the sorrows of actors. Although she has already established herself as a seasoned actor who represents maternal love, Bae Jongok still has a lot to challenge as an actor. Jeon Jonghyuk

Ahn Seohyun
An Sohee
Bae Jongok
Chang Hyaejin
Cho Minsoo
Cho Yeojeong
Choi Heeseo
Choi Sooyoung
Chun Woohee
Claudia Kim
EL
ESom
Goh Dooshim
Han Hyojoo
Han Jimin
Han Yeri
Jang Yoonju
Jang Youngnam
Jeon Doyeon
Jeon Hyejin
Jeon Sonee
Jeong Hadam
Jin Kyung
Jin Seoyeon
Jun Jongseo
Jung Eunchae
Jung Ryeowon
Jung Soojung
Kang Malgeum
Kang Sooyoun
Kim Ajoong
Kim Dami
Kim Goeun
Kim Haesook
Kim Heeae
Kim Hojung
Kim Hwanhee
Kim Hyanggi
Kim Hyeja
Kim Hyejun
Kim Hyunjoo
Kim Mekyung
Kim Okvin
Kim Saebyuk
Kim Saeron
Kim Seohyung
Kim Sojin
Kim Suan
Kim Sungryoung
Kim Sunyoung
Kim Youjung
Kim Yunjin
Ko Asung
Lee Hanee
Lee Hyeyeong
Lee Jaein
Lee Jooyoung
Lee Jooyoung
Lee Jungeun
Lee Junghyun
Lee Minji
Lee Nayoung
Lee Re
Lee Sanghee
Lee Siyoung
Lee Sungkyoung
Lee Yeonhee
Lee Youngae
Lee Youyoung
Lim Yoona
Moon Chaewon
Moon Geunyoung
Moon Jeonghee
Moon Sori
Park Boyoung
Park Haseon
Park Jihu
Park Jinjoo
Park Shinhye
Park Sodam
Ra Miran
Ryu Hyeyoung
Seo Younghee
Shim Dalgi
Shim Eunkyung
Shin Haesun
Shin Hyunbeen
Shin Saekyeong
Son Yejin
Song Jihyo
Song Yoona
Soo Ae
Uhm Jiwon
Uhm Junghwa
Won Jina
Ye Sujeong
Yeom Hyeran
Yoo Dain
Youn Yuhjung
Yum Jungah

Kim Hyunjoo was at the center of attention when young stars poured out and dominated TV dramas in the 1990s. Having vaguely admired celebrities, she began to stand in front of cameras when she happened to have a chance to appear in music videos when she was a high school senior. Kim Hyunjoo rose to stardom at a rapid pace and is an uncommon type of actor who has maintained the position for a long time. Becoming known in earnest in 1998 by winning the New Actress awards from both SBS and MBC for Love You Love You and I Don’t Know Anything But Love, Kim enjoyed her heydays starring in TV series with her stable acting skills and cute and emotional image. Without being trapped in youth dramas, Kim Hyunjoo’s expansion was great from period dramas to family dramas and costume dramas, all of which were popularly successful, and her acting skills were recognized through them: Virtue (2000), Her House (2001), Sangdo, Merchants of Joseon (2001), and so on. Considering that Kim Hyunjoo was in her early 20s, it is surprising that the young actor led the works as the main characters in such a broad spectrum of dramas.

Although her filmography is unbiased, Glass Slippers (2002) and Marrying a Millionaire show Kim Hyunjoo’s expertise best. Kim is an actor who embodied a woman perfectly, the character born with a dirt spoon went through a hard time in a harsh environment but toughed out the adversity with a strong will to live instead of a complex. This bright image is Kim Hyunjoo’s own vibe that the public loved the most. In the movie world, she made a debut with the film If It Snows on Christmas (1998), and in 2003, she appeared in Star Runner directed by Daniel Lee, a joint venture with Hong Kong, and performed with Vanness Wu.

After running nonstop, Kim Hyunjoo has reduced the number of her works since she was in her 30s. As an actor famous for having a sharp batting eye for work choices, she shows her acting talents that never let down the public in all her works. Especially in I Have a Lover (2015), she pulled off nearly 4 characters alone, winning the Best Actress at the SBS Drama Awards and the APAN Star Awards. Recently, she appeared in the genre drama series Watcher (2019) and Undercover (2020), expanding her acting spectrum and solidifying her position as a drama queen. Kim Hyunjoo’s next film is Netflix Original Series Hellbound and Netflix Original SF Film Jung Yi (Working title). Expectations are high on what synergy Kim Hyunjoo will create with Director Yeon Sangho, who directed the two films, and if she can rise to take the tile of the Netflix drama queen, too. Kim Hyungseok

Born in 1966, Kang Sooyoun began acting as a child actor exclusively for Tongyang Broadcasting Company in 1969 when she was only three years old. Growing up from a child to a high-teen star through TV dramas and movies, Kang turned into an adult actor in 1985 when she graduated from high school. Despite some pains, The Surrogate Womb (1987) she starred in was a great challenge and achievement. In the historical drama set in the Joseon Dynasty, Kang Sooyoun played a surrogate woman for a noble family, pulling off the character with great concentration. It allowed her to become the first East Asian actress to win the award at the Venice Film Festival.

Later, Kang Sooyoun’s era unfolded in Chungmuro, where she solidified her image as a youth star with Springtime of Mimi and Cheol-Su (1987). In Come, Come, Come Upward (1989), she played the role of a Buddhist nun, winning the Best Actress at the Moscow International Film Festival and reconfirming her position as a world star. In 1991, she starred in Autumn Tempest (1991), a Taiwanese film, which was a very unusual case for a Korean female actor to advance abroad at that time.

Above all, Kang Sooyoun was the only actress who had acting talents and box office success at the same time. From the late 1980s to the mid-1990s, she was one of the actors we could see most and had the most trophies at awards ceremonies.  Especially during this period, Kang Sooyoun was a reliable female actor to lean on for young directors who tried new movies. These are such films: Director Park Kwangsoo’s Berlin Report (1991), Director Jang Sunwoo’s The Road to Race Track (1991), Director Lee Hyunseung’s Blue In You (1992), Director Oh Byungchul’s Go Alone Like Musso’s Horn (1997), and Director Lim Sangsoo’s Girls’ Night Out (1998). In particular, Kang Sooyoun was the most important female actor in feminist films that began to sprout in the 1990s. Her characters were faithful to their desires, proudly resisting patriarchal order and agonizing over the identity of women.

Since 2000, she has been loved by the public through TV rather than movies, and she played the role of Jeong Nanjung in the royal historical drama Ladies in Palace (2001), pulling off a perfect villain character.  Later, she appeared in the TV drama Moonhee (2007) and the film Hanji (2011).

From 2015 to 2017, when the Busan International Film Festival was in crisis due to government interference, Actor Kang took the helm of the executive committee to protect Korean films. In the winter of 2022, she was scheduled to return to the screen with Director Yeon Sangho’s Netflix film Jung_E. Jung_E is Actor Kang Sooyoun’s comeback film to the screen in 9 years after Jury released in 2013, and expectations have been high for Kang’s first SF film.

But so sadly, Actor Kang Sooyoun, the eternal ‘World Star’ and the first Korean actor who won the Best Actress at an international film festival, passed away on May 7 2022, at the age of 55. The beautiful star on the earth has become a shining star in the sky. Kim Hyungseok

Goh Dooshim has acted for nearly half a century and spent most of that time as a mother character. Born in Jeju Island, she majored in classical dance in high school, came to Seoul after graduation, and began acting as an MBC public recruitment actor in 1972. From the 1970s to the 1990s, Goh Dooshim’s main stage was TV dramas. In the early days of her debut, Goh stopped acting for a while because she couldn’t even get a minor role. But she could return to the front of the camera thanks to the eyes of several directors who had recognized her acting talents. Fields of Home, which started in 1980 and Goh starred in for more than 20 years until 2002, represents Goh Doosim as an actor best. Playing the role of the eldest daughter-in-law in the series, Goh’s life as an actor bloomed in full. She won the KBS Acting Awards in 1989 with The Confines of Love, the MBC Acting Awards in 1990 with The Dancing Gayageum, and the SBS Acting Awards in 2000 with Virtue, showing her contribution to winning all acting awards in the 3 major broadcasting companies. Also, with the Baeksang Arts Awards, which she won in 1993 with My Husband’s Woman, she won four gold medals, which means she has received all the best awards in the TV field through acting, and Goh Dooshim is the only one who has ever recorded this.

Sometimes she reveals her sophisticated and glamorous charms, but if we describe actor Goh Dooshim into one word, it would be ‘Mom.’ The drama More Beautiful Than a Flower (2004) and the film Long and Winding Road (2005) are the signature of her mother acting, who shows devoted maternal love that even looks so foolish. Since 2000, she has been active in the film industry, and in Good Morning President (2009), Goh played the female president, a character Korean cinema never had before. In My Mother, The Mermaid, where she starred with Jeon Doyeon, Goh won the Best Supporting Actress at Korean Film Awards and Chunsa Film Awards. Meanwhile, in some movies, Goh Dooshim expressed the possibility of subversive romance, and Family Ties (2006) is typical. In the film, Goh Dooshim played the role of a middle-aged woman who makes love to a man 20 years younger, winning the Best Actress at the Thessaloniki International Film Festival. In her latest film, Everglow (2020), she also showed off her ability to empathize with unconventional melodramatic settings, winning the Best Actress at the Asian Film Festival. Only Goh Dooshim can embrace the image of a younger man’s lover based on a strong motherly character. She received the Silver Crown Order of Cultural Merit in 2020.  Kim Hyungseok

Lee Hyeyeong is the daughter of Lee Manhee, a legendary director who symbolizes Korean films in the 1960s and 1970s, and a leading actor who led Korean films in the 1980s. She made her musical debut at the age of 19 in 1981 and soon entered the film industry. In her early 20s, she drew attention by showing provocative and disturbing characters, including Hyangsim, a barmaid in Blazing Sun (1985), Eunyoung, a military wife in Winter Wanderer (1986), and Miss Hong in Ticket (1986). Lee Hyeyeong’s intense image was far from female actors with pure and feminine image, and she showed performances that overwhelmed the leading actors with her secular and sensual appearance. 

In Sabangji (1988), the controversial film that should be reevaluated as a queer movie, Lee Hyeyeong starred as Sabangji, a bisexual character. In the film, Sabangji falls in love with a widow of a noble family, sharing not only the sexual desire but the mental communion. The love between the two female characters in the movie was a shock itself at that time. In addition, Lee played the role of Seong Sobi in The Age of Success (1988), the representative film of Director Jang Sunwoo, who led the Korean New Wave. Appearing as a vengeful incarnation of revenge who tried to destroy Kim Panchok (Ahn Sungki), who dreams of making a comeback, Lee Hyeyeong showed a femme fatale-like performance of Film Noir. 

Lee showed remarkably self-assertive and confident characters in Korean films in the 1980s when Korean cinema was very conservative, such as Dangerous Scent (1988), which could be called the Korean version of Fatal Attraction (1987), and A Second Sex (1989), the story of a married couple betraying each other. In the 1980s, she played characters whose sexuality was emphasized mainly in the popular eroticism genre, but she was not easily consumed due to her unique charisma and outstanding acting skills. Rather, she stirred up the male-centered patriarchy, overcoming the limitations of the films through female-subjective acting. Her unique atmosphere and presence shone no matter what role she played in any film. Since she was ahead of her time, it’s hard to believe that she was an actor in the 1980s. 

In the 1990s, she appeared in masterpieces such as North Korean Partisan in South Korea (1990) and Myong-Ja Akiko Sonia (1992), but it was No Blood No Tears (2002) that showed her amazing comeback on the screen. It is comparable to Quentin Tarantino’s casting Pam Grier in Jackie Brown (1997). It was indeed a divine move that Director Ryu Seungwan cast Lee Hyeyeong as an ex-thief leading a crazy life. Middle-aged Gyeongsun, who rolled on the bare ground, punched and fought, was the best character that deserves the praise of ‘girl crush.’ 

After appearing in The Devil’s Game (2008), Lee Hyeyeong mostly performed on theatrical stages in the 2010s. She consistently drew attention by playing characters full of self-righteousness and charisma in the plays such as Hedda Gabler, which won the 2012 Korea Drama Awards, The Seagull in 2016, and MEDEA in 2017 at Myeongdong Theater. Recently, Lee appeared in Director Hong Sangsoo’s In Front of Your Face (2021) and was invited to the Cannes Premier at the Cannes Film Festival 2021. Lee Hyeyeong’s unexpected appearance in Director Hong’s film must be another surprising move that raises expectations. Jeon Jonghyuk 

In 1998, when she was in the second grade of elementary school, Shin Saekyeong became known to the public as a poster model for ‘Take Five,’ Seo Taiji’s first solo album. The mysterious and sad face of the child became a hot topic at the time. Afterward, Shin received numerous proposals, including CF models, moderators of kids’ shows, and heroines of music videos. However, Shin dreamed of being an actor when she was a teenager and appeared as Moon Geunyoung’s friend in My Little Bride (2004). At the time, Shin Saekyeng was a middle school student but looked mature enough to play the role of a high school student. Later, being cast as Choi Seohee, the main character of the TV series The Land (2006), Shin began to build up ‘Shin Saekyeong’s own characters’ gradually, solidifying her position as an actor. In her filmography, so many characters lead hapless life, and they all began from the character of The Land.

Shin made her film debut with a horror, Cinderella (2006). Turning into 20, Shin slowly transformed into an adult actor, and interestingly, the inflection point was the sitcom High Kick Through the Roof (2009). Here, she rose to stardom through a character that seemed indifferent but showed modest charm by running away from the countryside with her little sister and living as a housekeeper in Seoul. With her natural moderate performance in the sitcom, Shin won the Best New Actress at the MBC Entertainment Awards. In the film world, Hindsight (2011), where she performed with Song Kangho, was the chance for her to become an adult actor. Appearing as a killer in the film, Shin Saekyeong challenged a genre movie. The performance with Song Kangho was great nourishment for the rising rookie actor. In that sense, the TV series Deep Rooted Tree (2011) was also a meaningful work for her. In the series, Shin performs with Han Sukkyu. Working with Ko Hyunjung in Queen Seondeok (2009) and other great actors such as Lee Soonjae, Song Kangho, and Han Sukkyu laid a solid foundation for Shin Saekyeong in her early 20s. Later, she showed a mature yet broad spectrum of acting for her age.

In the movie Tazza – The Hidden Card (2014), she played a character both innocent and sexy, challenging unconventional acting and was recognized for her acting skills through costume dramas such as Six Flying Dragons (2015) and Rookie Historian Goo Haeryung (2019). Recently, Shin appeared in the youth romance drama Run On and worked with Im Siwan, drawing favorable reviews for her performance as ‘Rediscovery of Shin Saekyeong.’ We look forward to the future of Shin Saekyeong, who has made her own path with calm and sincere steps since she was a child actor. Kim Hyungseok