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South Korean actress (born 1982) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Son Eon-jin (Korean: 손언진; born January 11, 1982),[2][3] better known by the stage name Son Ye-jin (Korean: 손예진), is a South Korean actress. She rose to fame in 2003 through The Classic and Summer Scent, which were followed by the commercially successful A Moment to Remember (2004), and April Snow (2005). Her early roles in films garnered her the title "Nation's First Love" in Korea.[4] She has since won various accolades and starred in other high-profile films including My Wife Got Married (2008), The Pirates (2014), and The Last Princess (2016). She has also acted in popular television dramas such as Alone in Love (2006), Something in the Rain (2018), and Crash Landing on You (2019–2020). Between 2019 and 2022, she appeared on Forbes Korea Power Celebrity 40 for four consecutive years.[5][6][7]
Son Ye-jin | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Son in 2018 | |
| Born | Son Eon-jin January 11, 1982 Daegu, South Korea |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 2000–present |
| Agent | MSTeam Entertainment[1] |
| Height | 165 cm (5 ft 5 in)[1] |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 1 |
| Korean name | |
| Hangul | 손언진 |
| Hanja | 孫彦眞 |
| Revised Romanization | Son Eonjin |
| McCune–Reischauer | Son Ŏnjin |
| Stage name | |
| Hangul | 손예진 |
| Hanja | 孫藝珍 |
| Revised Romanization | Son Yejin |
| McCune–Reischauer | Son Yejin |
| Website | msteam.co.kr |
| Signature | |
 | |
Son Ye-jin was the voice of Jung Mi-jo in Park Ki-hyung's film Secret Tears in 2000, and then went on to take the leading role in television dramas such as Delicious Proposal,[8] Sun-hee and Jin-hee,[9] and Great Ambition.[10] Her first high-profile role in cinema was in Im Kwon-taek's Chi-hwa-seon, which screened at Cannes and took home a Best Director award in 2002.[11][12]
The biggest success of her early career was in the subsequent films Lovers' Concerto and The Classic.[13][14] Both were solid mid-level hits in Korea, and The Classic in particular — being a work of My Sassy Girl director Kwak Jae-yong — received wide exposure in regions such as Hong Kong and mainland China, and launched Son into East Asia stardom.[15] Son further solidified her status as a Hallyu (Korean Wave) star in 2003 by taking the lead in TV drama Summer Scent, the third installment of season-themed tetralogy Endless Love drama series directed by Yoon Seok-ho.[16]
Her next films also gained massive popularity in East Asia particularly in Japan: A Moment to Remember,[17][18] based on a famous Japanese series, set box office records in Japan and sold over two million tickets in Korea,[19][20] and April Snow in which she co-starred with superstar Bae Yong-joon[21] was also a hit in Japan and China.[22] Son, who adorned a pure and innocent image in her films The Classic and A Moment to Remember, was given the title of the "Nation's First Love" in Korea.[23]
In 2006, she became the highest-paid Korean actress in Korean television series when she was guaranteed a talent fee of KRW 50 million (plus incentive) per episode for her lead role in SBS drama Alone in Love.[24]
Son then cast off her nice girl image in her next projects.[12] She took on the roles of a con artist in The Art of Seduction,[25] an ambitious reporter in Spotlight,[26] a femme fatale in Open City,[27] and a divorcée in the critically acclaimed series Alone in Love.[28][29][30] In 2008, her portrayal of a polyandrous woman in My Wife Got Married[31] bagged her Best Actress honors from the prestigious Blue Dragon Film Awards[32] and other local award-giving bodies.
After filming the dark mystery White Night,[33] Son wanted to do a more fun project, so she chose the romantic comedy series Personal Taste,[34][35] followed by the horror-romantic comedy film Spellbound which became one of the top-grossing films in 2011 and by far the most successful Korean romantic comedy movie in recent years.[36][37]
In 2012, Son starred in her first blockbuster The Tower, a remake of the 1974 Hollywood disaster film The Towering Inferno.[38] She returned to television in 2013 in the revenge drama Shark (also known as Don't Look Back: The Legend of Orpheus),[39] then headlined Blood and Ties, a thriller about a daughter who suspects that her father was involved in a kidnap-murder case.[40]
Son reunited with Shark costar Kim Nam-gil in the 2014 period adventure film The Pirates, which received mixed reviews but was a commercial hit with more than 8.6 million admissions at the end of its theatre run and won Son the Best Actress award at the Grand Bell Awards.[41][42] The Pirates is one of the highest-grossing Korean films of all time, along with other Son Ye Jin's movies, The Tower and The Last Princess.[43] Son next starred in the black comedy Bad Guys Always Die opposite Taiwanese actor Chen Bolin, a Chinese-Korean co-production that was filmed on Jeju Island.[44]
In 2016, Son reunited with My Wife Got Married co-star Kim Joo-hyuk in The Truth Beneath, a political thriller,[45] and she received acclaim for her performance.[46] She won Best Actress at the 25th Buil Film Awards and 17th Busan Film Critics Awards for her performance. She then played Princess Deokhye in the biopic The Last Princess, helmed by April Snow director Hur Jin-ho.[47][48] The film drew positive reviews by critics and went on to become a box office hit, grossing US$40.35 million worldwide. Sung So-young of the Korea JoongAng Daily praised the film for being "interesting enough to hold the audience's interest from beginning to end", even though she felt the screenwriter's (Hur) imagination went too far in several scenes. She said major events from Princess Deokhye's life were portrayed well, and the film's biggest virtue was how it made audiences want to know more about her.[49] Rumy Doo of The Korea Herald said Son Ye-jin proved herself a "sensitive and technically refined performer."[50] Son was praised by critics for her "outstanding" performance in her portrayal of "the unfathomable depths on the emotional ups and downs of Deokhye", winning multiple accolades for her performance.[51][52]
In 2018, Son starred alongside So Ji-sub in the romance film Be with You, based on the Japanese novel of the same name.[53][54] The same year, Son returned to the small screen after five years with JTBC's romance drama Something in the Rain.[55][56] The series achieved commercial popularity, and Son received rave reviews for her performance.[57][58][unreliable source?] Son also starred in crime thriller The Negotiation, alongside Hyun Bin, playing a professional negotiator working to save hostages.[59][60]
In 2019, Son reunited with Hyun Bin in the global hit romance drama Crash Landing on You as a rich heiress who falls in love with a North Korean commissioned officer.[61][62] The drama was a huge success and is the fifth-highest-rated Korean drama in cable television history.[63][64][65]
Son was scheduled to have her Hollywood debut in 2022, starring opposite Sam Worthington in filmmaker Andrew Niccol's work The Cross.[66] However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her agency requested a delay in filming.[67]
On February 27, 2020, Son donated ₩100 million to Community Chest of Korea in Daegu to help fight the spread of COVID-19. Daegu is Son's hometown.[68]
On March 8, 2022, Son and Hyun Bin donated ₩200 million to the Hope Bridge Disaster Relief Association to help those affected by the massive wildfire of Uljin forest fire 2022, which devastated the area and then spread to Samcheok, Gangwon Province, South Korea.[69]
She is a Roman Catholic and her baptismal name is Dominica.[70]
.jpg)
On January 1, 2021, it was confirmed that Son had been in a relationship with actor Hyun Bin, her co-star in The Negotiation (2018) and Crash Landing on You (2019–2020), since the year prior, after Crash Landing on You concluded.[71]
On February 10, 2022, Son and Hyun Bin announced their engagement in letters posted on their social media accounts.[72] They married in a private ceremony on March 31, attended by their parents and friends of both families.[73] On June 27, Son announced that she was pregnant with the couple's first child,[74] and she gave birth to a son she affectionately nicknamed Alkong on November 27.[75][76][77]
| Year | Title | Role | Note | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Secret Tears | Jung Mi-jo | voice | |
| 2002 | Chi-hwa-seon | So-woon | [11] | |
| Lover's Concerto | Shim Soo-in / Gyung-hee | [13] | ||
| 2003 | The Classic | Ji-hye / Joo-hee | [14] | |
| Crazy First Love | Ju Il-mae | [78] | ||
| 2004 | A Moment to Remember | Kim Su-jin | [17] | |
| 2005 | April Snow | Seo-young | [21] | |
| The Art of Seduction | Han Ji-won | [25] | ||
| 2007 | Yobi, the Five Tailed Fox | Yobi | voice | [79] |
| 2008 | Open City | Baek Jang-mi | [27] | |
| My Wife Got Married | Joo In-ah | [31] | ||
| 2009 | White Night | Yoo Mi-ho / Lee Ji-ah | [80] | |
| 2011 | Spellbound | Kang Yeo-ri | [81] | |
| 2012 | The Tower | Seo Yoon-hee | [82] | |
| 2013 | Blood and Ties | Jung Da-eun | [83] | |
| 2014 | The Pirates | Yeo-wol | [84] | |
| 2015 | Bad Guys Always Die | Ji-yeon | International co-production | [85] |
| 2016 | The Truth Beneath | Kim Yeon-hong | [86] | |
| The Last Princess | Princess Deokhye | [87] | ||
| 2018 | Be with You | Im Soo-ah | [88] | |
| The Negotiation | Ha Chae-yoon | [89] | ||
| TBA | No Other Choice | Mi Ri | Filming | [90] |
| Year | Title | Role | Note | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Delicious Proposal | Jang Hee-ae | [91] | |
| Sun-hee and Jin-hee | Shim Sun-hee | [9] | ||
| 2002 | Great Ambition | Choi Dong-hee | [10] | |
| 2003 | Summer Scent | Shim Hye-won | [16] | |
| 2006 | Alone in Love | Yoo Eun-ho | [92] | |
| 2008 | Spotlight | Seo Woo-jin | [26] | |
| 2010 | Personal Taste | Park Kae-in | ||
| 2011 | Secret Garden | Herself | Cameo (episode 20) | [93] |
| 2013 | Don't Look Back: The Legend of Orpheus | Jo Hae-woo | ||
| 2018 | Something in the Rain | Yoon Jin-ah | [94] | |
| 2019–2020 | Crash Landing on You | Yoon Se-ri | [62] | |
| 2022 | Thirty-Nine | Cha Mi-jo | [95] |
Son has been the recipient of many awards throughout her career. She currently has won a total of 51 awards out of 72 nominations.
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