Han Hyo-Joo is an actress, model, and singer from South Korea. In addition to the films Masquerade (2012), which is one of the highest-grossing Korean films ever, Cold Eyes (2013), for which she won Best Actress at the 34th Blue Dragon Film Awards, Love 911 (2012), The Beauty Inside (2015), and The Pirates: The Last Royal Treasure (2022), she is most known for her leading roles in television series, including Heaven & Earth (2007), Iljimae (2008), Brilliant Legacy (2009), Dong Yi (2010), for which she won the coveted Best Actress award at the 47th Baeksang Arts Awards, W (2016), Happiness (2021), and Moving (2023).
Bio, Education and Family
Yullryang-dong, Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province is the birthplace of Han Hyo-joo. Her father was a Reserve Air Force lieutenant colonel, and her mother had taught elementary school before going on to work as a public school inspector. Han was given the name Han Ji-Yeong at birth, but she changed it to her current name when she started third grade. She went to Deokseong Elementary School and has a younger brother as well. She excelled in athletics as a youngster, especially track and field.
She attended Cheongju Girls’ High School till 2004 after graduating from Yullyang Middle School in 2002. Despite her father’s disapproval, she relocated to Seoul for her second year of high school and enrolled at Bulgok High School in Bundang-gu, Seongnam. She enrolled at Dongguk University’s College of Arts after graduating in March 2005, where she joined the Theatre and Film department, and she eventually earned her degree in 2010.
Career
In 2003, the food company Binggrae sponsored a teenage beauty competition when Han was initially seen. Her first roles as an actress were in the gangster comedy My Boss, My Teacher and the sitcom Nonstop 5. Later, Han gained more notoriety when she starred in the fourth and last episode of TV director Yoon Seok-ho’s “season drama” series, Spring Waltz. Han was given the lead part in the low-budget independent film Ad-lib Night (2006) by filmmaker Lee Yoon-ki. The story of the film is about a young lady who rediscovers herself after an unsettling overnight meeting with strangers. For her portrayal, she was honored with Best New Actress prizes at the Singapore International Film Festival and the Korean Association of Film Critics prizes.
Subsequently, Han gained notoriety for his roles in two enormously popular TV shows: the 2007 KBS daily drama Heaven & Earth starring Park Hae-jin, and the 2008 SBS masked adventurer serial Iljimae starring Lee Joon-gi. Throughout their runs, both dramas garnered strong national audience figures and made Han a household figure. She was then chosen to star in Ride Away, another independent movie that made its premiere at the 2008 Jeonju International Film Festival.
After that, Han shot the co-production Korean-Japanese telecinema Heaven’s Postman, which also starred TVXQ (now JYJ) pop singer Jaejoong. It was finally released in theatres in late 2009 and aired on television in 2010 following many delays. Brilliant Legacy, which costarred Lee Seung-gi and became a huge hit in 2009 with a high viewing rate of 47.1%, was Han’s big break. It launched Han into prominence, and following the drama’s finish, she saw a sudden surge in sponsorship deals, demands for interviews from the media, and greater popularity throughout Asia. Han completed filming her lead performance in the musical drama Soul Special, which aired on KBS Joy, later that year.
Han had the lead role in MBC’s 49th-anniversary series Dong Yi in 2010. During its existence, the series gained popularity both locally and across Asia. For her depiction of Choi Suk-bin, Han was recognized with many acting honors, including the prestigious Best Actress title at the Baeksang Arts Awards and the Daesang (Grand Prize) award at the MBC Drama Awards. In the 2011 melodrama film Always, Han portrayed a blind telemarketer opposite So Ji-sub’s former boxer. Under the direction of Song Il-gon, it made its debut as the 2011 Busan International Film Festival’s opening picture. Subsequently, Han provided voice narration for the Japanese film My Back Page’s “barrier-free” version, which includes subtitles and descriptive audio for anyone with visual or hearing impairments.
Then, in the 2012 hit historical drama Masquerade, starring Lee Byung-hun as Gwanghae, Han played the queen. The movie went on to become one of the highest-grossing Korean films ever made. She then released Love 911, a film about the improbable relationship between a fireman and a doctor (Go Soo). Han appeared in the 2013 action thriller Cold Eyes, which was a remake of the Hong Kong film Eye in the Sky from 2007, alongside Sol Kyung-gu and Jung Woo-sung. Following its premiere, the movie ruled the box office and went on to become one of 2013’s biggest domestic successes. Han won Best Actress at the Blue Dragon Film Awards and the Build Film Awards, recognizing her acting talent.
Myohyangsangwan (“View of Mount Myohyang”), which portrays the meeting of a South Korean painter and a North Korean server at a North Korean restaurant, brought Han and Love 911 costar Go Soo back together in 2014. Moon Kyung-won and Jeon Joon-ho, two modern artists, collaborated on the short film, which featured dance, performance art, experimental images, and a dramatic storyline.
Her first Japanese feature, Isshin Inudo’s Miracle: Debikuro-kun no Koi to Maho (“Miracle Devil Claus’ Love and Magic”), marked her international cinematic debut. Masaki Aiba, a member of the J-pop group Arashi, plays a compassionate bookshop employee who falls in love with three different ladies in this film, which is set around the Christmas season.
Han portrayed the highs and lows of the folk music ensemble Twin Folio, which was active from the 1960s to the 1980s, in the 2015 musical biography C’est Si Bon. Han fulfilled the role of Twin Folio’s muse at C’est Si Bon, a prominent music lounge in Mugyo-dong that was well-known for its live performances and where the group first formed in the 1970s. The Beauty Inside, a romantic comedy, came next, in which Han’s character falls in love with a guy who transforms into a new person every day.
Subsequently that year, Han reunited with Yoo Yeon-Seok and Chun Woo-hee, her co-stars in The Beauty Inside, for Love, Lies, a film that tells the final tale of gisaeng in the 1940s Japanese occupation.
Drama
- Romantic Anonymous
- Blood Free (2024)
- Moving (2023)
- Happiness (2021)
- Dramaworld Season 2 (2021)
- W (2016)
- Dong Yi (2010)
- Shining Inheritance (2009)
- Iljimae (2008)
- High As Sky Wide As Earth (2007)
- Spring Waltz (2006)
- Nonstop Season 5 (2004)
Movie
- Believer 2
- 20th Century Girl (2022)
- The Pirates 2: The Last Royal Treasure (2022)
- The Sun Does Not Move (2021)
- Illang: The Wolf Brigade (2018)
- Golden Slumber (2018)
- Love, Lies (2016)
- The Beauty Inside (2015)
- C’est Si Bon (2015)
- Miracle: Devil Claus’ Love and Magic (2014)
- Cold Eyes (2013)
- Love 911 (2012)
- Masquerade (2012)
- Always (2011)
- Postman to Heaven (2009)
- My Dear Enemy (2008)
- Ride Away (2008)
- Ad-Lib Night (2006)
- My Boss, My Teacher (2006)
Special
- W: The Unfinished Story (2016)
- W Special (2016)
- Soul Special (2009)
TV Show
- Unexpected Business in California (2023)
- Jae Joong and Friends (2023)
- Human Table (2022)
- Unexpected Business Season 2 (2022)
- The Game Caterers Season 2 (2022)
- House on Wheels: For Rent (2021)
- The Game Caterers (2021)
- Hometown Flex (2020)
- Omniscient Interfering View (2018)
- MMTG (2018)
- 2 Days & 1 Night Season 3 (2013)
- Running Man (2010)
- Love Letter (2004)
- X-Man (2003)
- Inkigayo (1991)
