Jun Ji-hyun

Versatile and Charismatic, Jun Ji-Hyun is one of the most loved and respected actresses in her homeland of South Korea. She has won numerous accolades, including two Grand Bell Awards for Best Actress and a Baeksang Art Awards Daesang (Grand Prize) for Television. Jun Ji-Hyun's success in film and television has established her as a top Hallyu star. She is also called one of "The Troika," along with Kim Tae-Hee and Song Hye-Kyo, collectively known by the acronym "Tae-Hye-Ji."

South Korea's Seoul is where Jun was born. Her brother is five years her senior. Because of her height and trim figure, her mother and her mother's friends urged her to pursue a career in modeling or acting. She had always wanted to work as a flight attendant, but after one flight, she had second thoughts. She started her career as a model for Ecole Magazine in 1997 at the age of 16, following in the footsteps of her high school senior classmate. On the advice of a producer, she made her acting debut in 1998 and took on the stage name Jun Ji-현.

Her movie debut came in White Valentine (1999). This was followed by a role in Il Mare (2000), which proved to be a success. However, Jun's biggest breakthrough was in My Sassy Girl (2001), a romantic comedy that won her the Best Actress award at the Daejong Film Festival in 2002 nonetheless sparked an international breakthrough for Korean cinema and became an enormous sensation throughout Asia. Her reputation as one of the top actresses of her generation was cemented by the movie, which gave her the title "Nation's First Love." Decades after the movie that catapulted her to new heights in her career came out, she has kept growing under this label.