Wednesday, April 18, 2007
Almost Love
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Jeon Ji-hyun
Jeon Ji-hyun born on October 30, 1981. She first became well-known as a commercial model and as a TV actress. Although she made her film debut in the little-watched White Valentine in 1999, it was not until later in the year when she was featured in an advertisement for an audio system that she became a popular sensation. The dancing and attitude expressed in the ad made her into an icon for Koreans in their late teens and early twenties.
After continuing her TV and modelling career, Jeon made her first well-publicized film appearance in late 2000 with Il Mare. A handsomely-shot melodrama set on Kanghwa Island, the film did respectably well at the box office (despite opening on the same day as JSA) and solidified her status as a star.
Jeon's breakout film was comedy My Sassy Girl, which became a huge hit both in Korea and throughout Asia with its tale of a gullible college student and his slightly unhinged girlfriend. The film spent two weeks at #1 in Hong Kong, and turned her into Korea's most recognizable star in the Chinese-language market. Two years then passed before she appeared in her next film, an "occult thriller" titled The Uninvited which wowed critics but failed to catch on with viewers. Throughout this time she was a constant presence in TV ads and on billboards in Korea and also in other Asian countries.
2004 saw her return to the big screen in another film by Kwak Jae-yong, the director of My Sassy Girl. Windstruck cast her in the role of a policewoman, but many viewers felt it was too similar to My Sassy Girl. There were also signs that her popularity had started to suffer because of overexposure in advertisements. Nonetheless, Windstruck became the best-performing film ever in Japan, where My Sassy Girl was not as well known.
Jeon's next project Daisy teamed her with Jung Woo-sung (who frequently appears together with her in advertisements), and drew attention for its 100% location shooting in the Netherlands, and for using the Hong Kong director Andrew Lau (Infernal Affairs). Nonetheless the film disappointed at the box-office and drew weak appraisals from viewers.
In late 2006 it was announced the Jeon would be making her long-predicted jump to Hollywood to take the lead role in Blood: The Last Vampire. The international co-production is the live-action adaptation of a popular Japanese anime.
Awards she received are:
Z 2002 Daejong (GrandBell) Film Festival: Best Actress / People’s Choice
Z 1999 SBS Actors Awards: Best New Actress
Z 1999 Baeksang Arts Awards: Best New Actress
Some of her most loved movies and series are:
Daisy (2006)
Windstruck (2004)
The Uninvited (2003)
My Sassy Girl (2001)
Il Mare (2000)
Happy Together (1999)
White Valentine (1999)
Steal My Heart (1998)
Friday, January 26, 2007
Han Chae-young
Han Chae Young was born Kim Ji Young at 13 September 1980. She is a South Korean actress and referred to as "the Barbie Doll of Korea."
Critics have praised her work in the television drama, Delightful Girl Choon-Hyang, which is a present-day version of the historical story, Chunhyang. Critics doubted the series would succeed, but it has proved a favourite among young adults. There, Han plays a fun-loving, free-spirited young woman.
Some of her most loved movies and series are:
Fireworks (2006)
Only You (2005)
Sassy Girl, Chun-hyang (2005)
Wild Card (2003)
Autumn In My Heart (2000)
Monday, January 15, 2007
Bae Yong-joon
Bae Yong-joon born on August 29, 1972 spent the first nine years of his show biz career in TV dramas, gradually building up a tremendous fan base across Asia, and particularly in Japan, that has made him one of Korea's most famous stars. His debut came in the 1994 TV drama Love Greeting, and from 1995 to 2002 he went on to appear in nine more TV dramas. Have We Really Loved? (1999), Hotelier (2001) and especially Winter Sonata (2002) gave him tremendous exposure throughout Asia. In Japan in particular, Winter Sonata enjoyed unprecedented popular success, particularly among middle-aged women. Bae was subsequently dubbed with the honorific nickname "Yonsama", and became the most famous Korean star in Japan. Japanese prime minister Koizumi even joked, perhaps not untruthfully, that Bae's popularity had outstripped his own.
Meanwhile his film debut, outside of a brief walk-on in the film Bbilgu in 1995, came after he was already quite famous, in E J-yong's 2003 period drama Untold Scandal. The film, in which he portrayed a womanizing aristocrat quite unlike his popular image from TV dramas, was a hit in Korea and also performed well in Japan. By the time he made his second film April Snow in 2005, his popularity had grown to the extent that an intense media frenzy followed him throughout the shooting schedule. The film, about a man who discovers his wife's infidelity after she falls into a coma, opened weakly in Korea but set a new box office record for a Korean film in Japan.
In fall of 2006, Bae is scheduled to return to TV dramas with the lead role in Taewangsasingi, where he plays an emperor from the Goguryeo Dynasty who lived from 375-413.
Awards he received are:
Z 2004 40th Baeksang Rookie Award
Z 2003 Blue Dragon Best Newcomer & Popular Star award
Z 2002 KBS Drama Popular Actor Award & Best Actor Award
Z 2002 38th Bak Sang Popularity award
Z 1997 33rd Bak Sang Popularity award
Z 1996 KBS Drama The Excellent Actor Award & The Popular Actor Award
Z 1995 KBS Drama Rookie Award & Photogenic Award
Some of his most loved movies and series are:
April Snow (2005)
Untold Scandal (2003)
Winter Sonata (2002)
Hotelier (2001)
Did We Really Love?(1999)
First Love (1996)
Papa (1995)