Jun Ji Hyun | 전지현 | About

Jun Ji Hyun was born Wang Ji Hyun and wanted to be a flight attendant until a flight changed her mind. A fashion editor spotted her on the street at sixteen and she began modelling for Ecole magazine in 1997; a producer suggested the stage name a year later, when she started acting. Her film debut, "White Valentine" (1999), went unnoticed, but a Samsung printer commercial the same year did not — the dancing and the attitude in it made her an icon for Koreans in their late teens and twenties more or less overnight.

"Il Mare" (2000) made her a star and "My Sassy Girl" (2001) made her a phenomenon: the highest-grossing Korean comedy ever made at home, two weeks at number one in Hong Kong, and the film that turned her into the most recognisable Korean actress in the Chinese-speaking world. Her character — loud, domineering and unmistakably in charge, against every convention Asian romantic comedy had for a heroine — got her the title the Nation's First Love and Best Actress at the 2002 Grand Bell Awards. "Windstruck" (2004) followed, then "Daisy" (2006), shot entirely in the Netherlands.

She took the lead in "Blood: The Last Vampire" (2009) after three months of sword and martial arts training, adopting the name Gianna Jun for Western releases, launched a jeans line with True Religion, and was photographed by Annie Leibovitz for American Vogue — the first Korean actress the magazine had featured. Then a second Korean career: "The Thieves" (2012), the second highest-grossing Korean film of all time, "The Berlin File" (2013), and "Assassination" (2015), the year's biggest film, which won her a second Grand Bell.

"My Love from the Star" (2013) was her return to television after fourteen years, opposite her "The Thieves" co-star Kim Soo Hyun. It took the Daesang at both the Baeksang Arts Awards and the SBS Drama Awards, moved fashion, make-up and restaurant trends across Asia — the YSL lipstick her character wore sold out worldwide — and brought her the President's Award at the Korean Popular Culture and Arts Awards. She reunited with its writer Park Ji Eun for "The Legend of the Blue Sea" (2016), then took five years off before "Kingdom: Ashin of the North" and "Jirisan" in 2021. She has been among the country's most sought-after endorsers throughout, and is a house ambassador for Louis Vuitton, Burberry, La Mer and Piaget. She gives ₩100 million at a time — to the Sewol families in 2014, to COVID relief in 2020, to the Uljin wildfires in 2022.