| Song Hye-kyo 송혜교 宋慧乔 |
|
|---|---|
| Born | November 22, 1981 Daegu, South Korea |
| Other names | Snow, Iris |
| Occupation | Actress, model |
| Years active | 1996–present |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 송혜교 |
| Hanja | 宋慧乔 |
| Revised Romanization | Song Hye-gyo |
| McCune–Reischauer | Song Hye-kyo |
| Website | |
| www.songhyekyo.co.kr | |
Song Hye-kyo (Korean: 송혜교, born November 22, 1981) is a South Korean model and actress. She gained popularity through television dramas such as Autumn in My Heart (2000), All In (2003), Full House (2004), and The World That They Live In (2008). .
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Song debuted in the entertainment industry in 1996 when she won the Grand Prize in SunKyung Smart (a school uniform company) when she was finishing her third year in junior high school. It was not long until she starred in her first drama, Merry Morning. Since then, she would continue to star in a string of various dramas and sitcoms but it wasn't until the KBS drama Autumn in My Heart in 2000 with Song Seung-hun and Won Bin that she rose to fame throughout Asia.
In 2003, her popularity continued to climb when she played a leading role alongside Lee Byung-hun in the gambling drama All In. The following year, she co-starred with singer Rain in the hit romantic comedy series Full House.
After the pan-Asian success of Full House, she made her big-screen debut in My Girl and I (a Korean adaptation of Crying Out Love in the Center of the World She returned to acting in 2007, as the kisaeng Hwang Jini in the film adaptation of [[Hwang Jin Yi "Hwangjini only held one man in her heart"] A year later, she made her American debut in the Hollywood indie Make Yourself at Home (formerly titled Fetish), a psychological thriller about a girl who was born to a shaman mother and tries to flee her fate by becoming an immigrant bride in the U.S.[1][2][3] She made her TV comeback in late 2008 with The World That They Live In, a series set at a broadcast station in which Song and Hyun Bin play drama PDs who work together and fall in love.[4]
In 2010, she starred in Camellia, an omnibus pic made up of three feature films directed by three Asian directors. Each episode is set in the past, present and future of the city of Busan, Korea. In the film's final segment Love for Sale, Song and Kang Dong-won play former lovers who forget their memories about each other which later leads them to a fatal destiny.[5]
Considered one of Korea's most beautiful women,[6][7] in early 2011 Song released the photobook Song Hye-kyo's Moment which was shot by top photographers in Atlanta, New York, Buenos Aires, Patagonia, Paris, the Netherlands and Brazil.[8][9][10] In 2010, she was ranked no. 18 among the most beautiful faces in the world by Independent Critics.
She plays a documentary producer who finds the strength to forgive the 17-year-old boy who killed her fiance but instead of redemption finds only greater tragedy in A Reason to Live (Korean title: Today), which after several delays was released in October 2011.[11][12] Song was a huge fan of the director and had actively sought her out,[13] and though she had difficulty getting into character,[14] Song said she fell in love with the script[15][16] and felt her acting had matured.[17] She considers the film "a turning point" in her life.[18][19][20][21]
She will next appear in a supporting role in The Grandmasters, Chinese director Wong Kar-wai's biopic about Bruce Lee's kung fu master Ip Man.[22] Song learned Cantonese and martial arts for the film.[23]
Two years after it was cancelled,[24] Song's movie with Chinese director John Woo Love and Let Love (previously titled 1949) will begin filming in Shanghai and Taiwan in early 2012. She plays a wealthy, driven woman who lives through the end of World War II and the Chinese Civil War. Woo's longtime friend and producer Terence Chang has been managing Song's overseas activities since 2008.[25][26]
Song is one of the most in-demand product endorsers in Korea and has done many TV commercials and print ads over the years. She has been a spokesperson for popular brands such as Laneige, Levi's (Lady style), Etude, Whitea, Aritaum, Innisfree, Nintendo DS (Animal Crossing), Roem, McDonalds (Ice Cream), FHM and Vivien Bra.
When Song was born, she was sick and her parents and doctor thought she would not survive. Miraculously she did and her parents only registered her birth on February 26, 1982 (instead of her actual birthdate). She has no siblings. Her hobbies are ice skating, swimming, and playing the piano.[27]
Song has been in two highly publicized relationships. She started dating Lee Byung-hun while filming All In in 2003. Their relationship and subsequent break-up in 2004 generated much media attention and gossip. The experience taught her to draw a clear line between private and public life, saying in a 2008 Dong-A Ilbo interview, "The viewers suddenly learned, while in the midst of watching a drama I was acting in, that I was somebody’s girlfriend. In the end, this was an obstacle and only served to create a sense of dislike among viewers."[28] In another interview for Fuji TV, Song was asked about her first love and fans speculated that she was obliquely referring to Lee.[29]
Song kept in touch with Hyun Bin after The World That They Live In ended, but it was their separation while Hyun was filming Friend, Our Legend in Busan that made them realize they were in love. They announced their dating status in June 2009.[30][31] In March 2011 mere hours after Hyun's military enlistment, his and Song's agencies confirmed speculation that the couple had broken up. According to the joint press release, "Both have been very busy shooting films and dramas both in and out of Korea, which inevitably caused them to grow apart." With rumors of their separation circulating since late 2010, the agencies said the two split up in early 2011 but wanted to keep it secret for the time being "because neither of them wanted the public attention to be directed on their split instead of their professional work. Hyun also did not want a personal issue to interfere with his last days with his fans before starting his military service."[32][33][34]
Asked about the aftereffects of her two romantic relationships that caught the public's attention, Song said in October 2011, "I think the time when I felt uncomfortable about living under a microscope has gone. I'm no longer afraid of such things. What I did was typical of any woman my age. In fact, I haven't had any time to feel lonely."[17]
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Merry Morning (KBS) | |
| First Love (KBS) | Jung-ah | |
| 1998 | Six Siblings (MBC) | |
| One of a Pair (SBS) | ||
| Marching (SBS) | ||
| Deadly Eyes (SBS) | ||
| White Nights 3.98 (SBS) | ||
| How Am I? (SBS) | ||
| 1999 | Sweet Bride (SBS) | |
| Soonpoong Clinic (SBS) | Oh Hye-gyo | |
| 2000 | Autumn in My Heart (KBS) | Yoon/Choi Eun-seo |
| 2001 | Guardian Angel (SBS) | Jung Da-so |
| Hotelier (MBC) | Kim Yoon-hee | |
| 2003 | All In (SBS) | Min Su-yeon |
| Sunlight Pours Down (SBS) | Ji Yeon-woo | |
| 2004 | Full House (KBS) | Han Ji-eun |
| 2008 | The World That They Live In (KBS) | Joo Joon-young |
| Year | Title | Role |
|---|---|---|
| 2005 | My Girl and I | Bae Su-eun |
| 2007 | Hwang Jin Yi | Hwang Jini |
| 2008 | Make Yourself at Home | Sookhy |
| 2010 | Camellia - "Love for Sale" | Bo-ra |
| 2011 | A Reason to Live | Da-hye |
| 2012 | The Grandmasters | |
| Love and Let Love |
| Year | Song | Artist |
|---|---|---|
| 1997 | "This Promise" | Kim Soo Keun |
| 2000 | "Curious Destiny" | Shin Sung Woo |
| 2001 | "Once Upon a Day" | Kim Bum Soo |