Song Hye-kyo

Song Hye-kyo
Born	(1981-11-22) November 22, 1981 Daegu, South Korea
Nationality	South Korean
Education	Sejong University - Film Arts
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1996–present
Agent	United Artists Agency
Religion	Roman Catholic[1]
Website	songhyekyo.co.kr
Korean name
Hangul	송혜교
Hanja	宋慧喬
Revised Romanization	Song Hye-gyo
McCune–Reischauer	Song Hye-kyo

Song Hye-kyo (Hangul: 송혜교; born November 22, 1981) is a South Korean actress. She gained popularity through television dramas such as Autumn in My Heart (2000), All In (2003), Full House (2004), and That Winter, the Wind Blows (2013).

Early life

When Song Hye-kyo was born, she was sick and her parents and doctor thought she would not survive. Upon her recovery, Song's parents registered her birth on February 26, 1982 (instead of her actual birthdate, November 22, 1981).^[2]

Song's parents divorced when she was a young girl, and she was raised by her mother.^[3] They moved from her birthplace in Daegu to the Gangnam District in Seoul, where she trained as a figure skater in elementary school, but quit when she was in the eighth grade.^[4] Though Song considered herself shy and introverted, she was described by her high school teacher as having a "cheerful character, she mixed well with her friends and was always in a bright mood."^[5][6]

Career

In 1996, the 14-year-old Song, then a third-year high school student, won first place in the SunKyung Smart Model Contest, and she made her entertainment debut as a model for the school uniform company.^[7] This led to her being cast in a small role in her first television drama, First Love. She would continue to appear in a string of various dramas and sitcoms, notably Soonpoong Clinic. But it wasn't until the KBS drama Autumn in My Heart in 2000 with Song Seung-heon and Won Bin that she rose to fame in Korea and 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 remake of Crying Out Love in the Center of the World), which was panned by audiences and critics alike. Vocal about her dissatisfaction with typecasting in the roles she was being offered, Song went on a two-year hiatus.^[8] She went to San Francisco to study English, and later traveled to Seattle. "I have had a good rest. It was a good opportunity to reflect on myself," Song said.^[9]

She returned to acting in 2007, as the titular gisaeng in the film adaptation of Hwang Jin Yi.^[10][11] Because they found Song's image "too cute," Jun Ji-hyun and Soo Ae were the producers' original choices for the role, but Song went on a rigorous diet and surprised them with her will and desire to be Hwang Jini.^[12] 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.^[13][14] Despite Song's attempts to challenge herself, both films underwhelmed at the box office.^[15]

She made her TV comeback in late 2008 with The World That They Live In (also known as Worlds Within), a series set at a broadcast station in which Song and Hyun Bin played drama PDs who work together and fall in love.^[16][17]

In 2010, she starred in Camellia, an omnibus pic made up of three short films directed by three Asian directors. Each episode is set in the past, present and future of the city of Busan. In the film's final segment Love for Sale, Song and Kang Dong-won played former lovers who forget their memories about each other which later leads them to a fatal destiny.^[18]

Considered one of Korea's most beautiful women,^[19] in early 2011 Song released the photobook Song Hye-kyo's Moment which was shot by top photographers in Atlanta, New York City, Buenos Aires, Patagonia, Paris, the Netherlands and Brazil.^[20][21][22]

Song then played a documentary filmmaker 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.^[23] Song was a huge fan of director Lee Jeong-hyang and had actively sought her out,^[24] and though she had difficulty getting into character,^[25] Song said she fell in love with the script^[26][27] and felt her acting had matured.^[28] She considers the film "a turning point" in her life.^{[29][30][31][32]}

In 2011, she became the first Asian actress to sign a contract with French global agency Effigies, paving the way for her possible entry into the European market.^[33] She released a photo-essay book in 2012 titled It's Time for Hye-kyo.^[34]

Song then played a supporting role in The Grandmaster, Chinese director Wong Kar-wai's biopic about Bruce Lee's kung fu master Ip Man, for which she learned Cantonese and martial arts.^[35][36][37] She later admitted there had been "a bit of friction and misunderstanding" with Wong while filming, but that the difficulties helped her mature.^[38]

Song reunited with the writer and director of Worlds Within in That Winter, the Wind Blows, a 2013 remake of 2002 Japanese drama Ai Nante Irane Yo, Natsu ("I Don't Need Love, Summer"). She played a blind heiress in the melodrama, opposite a con man pretending to be her long-lost brother (played by Jo In-sung). That Winter, the Wind Blows placed number one in its timeslot during most of its run, and Song and Jo were praised for their performances.^{[39][40][41][42][43][44][45][46]}

In 2014, Song starred opposite Kang Dong-won in My Brilliant Life, E J-yong's film adaptation of Kim Aeran's bestselling novel My Palpitating Life about a couple who must watch their son suffering from progeria grow prematurely old.^{[47][48][49][50][51]}

Romantic epic The Crossing was Song's second Chinese film to be released and was directed by John Woo (Woo's longtime friend and producer Terence Chang has been managing Song's overseas activities since 2008). Previously titled 1949 and Love and Let Love, the long-gestating project had originally been announced at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008,^[52][53][54] then cancelled in 2009,^[55] and revived again in 2011.^[56][57] Woo's recovery from tonsil tumor removal in 2012 led to another delay due to scheduling conflicts among the cast,^[58][59][60] and Song finally began filming in June 2013.^[61] The Crossing is based on the true story of the Taiping steamer collision and follows six characters and their intertwining love stories in Taiwan and Shanghai during the 1930s; Song played the daughter of a wealthy banker.^[62][63][64]

Another Chinese film followed in 2015, The Queens, a contemporary romantic comedy about three cosmopolitan women – an actress, a PR specialist and a gallery manager – who manipulate friends and put down their enemies as they play the game of love. Also starring Joe Chen and Vivian Wu, it was actress Annie Yi's directorial debut.^[65][66]

Song is set to star in the Kim Eun-sook-penned series Descendants of the Sun, an intense drama about a peacekeeper (played by Song Joong-ki) and an army surgeon with Doctors Without Borders who fall in love while working amidst disaster-torn areas.^[67][68]

Endorsements

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 House, Whitea, Aritaum, Innisfree, Roem, McDonalds Ice Cream, Conway, Nintendo DS Animal Crossing, Olay, LG, FHM, Vivien Bra, and J.ESTINA.

To promote a new line for cosmetics brand Laneige, Song made her official singing debut in a collaboration with Superstar K2 runner-up John Park. The single Switch: Be White was released in March 2012, along with a music video which featured Song and Park recording the track. Proceeds from the sale of the tune benefited the "Be Waterful" campaign, a joint project between Laneige and Save the Children, an international aid group.^[69]

Personal life

In 2003, Song began dating actor Lee Byung-hun while both were filming All In. 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 interview with The Dong-a Ilbo, "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."^[70][71]

Song kept in touch with Worlds Within co-star Hyun Bin after the drama 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.^[72][73] But unlike her previous relationship with Lee, Song and Hyun were rarely seen in public together and refused to discuss their relationship with the press. 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."^[74][75]

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."^[28]

In February 2012, Song filed a defamation suit against 41 Internet users for fabricating and spreading groundless rumors about her. After an investigation by the Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency, prosecutors charged 24 of the netizens in July 2013.^[76][77]

In August 2014, Song made a public apology for committing tax evasion, arguing that her accountant had mishandled her paper work without her knowledge, with her omitted income tax from 2009 to 2011 totaling ₩2.56 billion. She said that after receiving a notification from the National Tax Service, she paid the full amount with additional fines in the amount of ₩3.8 billion (US$3.7 million) in October 2012.^{[78][79][80][81][82]}

Filmography

Television dramas

Films

Music videos

MC

Discography

Photo books

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Official website (Korean)
• Song Hye-kyo at the Internet Movie Database
• Song Hye-kyo at the Korean Movie Database
• Song Hye-kyo at HanCinema