Cha Joo-young, born on June 5, 1990, is a South Korean actress who has gradually made a name for herself in K-dramas through roles that are often elegant, ambitious, or ambiguous. Before becoming an actress, she studied in the United States and earned a degree in business administration from Utah State University.
She made her television debut in the mid-2010s and gained attention in Cheese in the Trap in 2016, in which she plays Nam Joo-yeon. She went on to The Gentlemen of the Wolgyesu Tailor Shopthen Jugglers in 2017 and Wok of Love in 2018. These supporting roles allowed him to establish himself as a permanent fixture in the world of Korean dramas.
After The Spies Who Loved Me In 2020, she landed a more prominent role in the thriller Chimera in 2021, in which she plays the journalist Kim Hyo-kyung. She continues in 2022 with Again, My Life and Alice, the Final Weapon, but his real international breakthrough came with The Glory. In this Netflix series, and then in The Glory, Part 2 In 2023, she played Choi Hye-jeong, a member of the group responsible for the violence suffered by the heroine. Her performance played a major role in boosting her profile.
In 2023, she also appeared in The Heavenly Idol and plays one of the leading roles in the long-running family series The Real Has Arrived!.
Cha Joo-young takes a new step forward in 2025 with her first major lead role in a historical drama The Queen Who Crowns. In it, she plays Queen Won-gyeong, a powerful political figure at the heart of the early Joseon Dynasty. She reprises the role in the prologue The Queen Who Crowns: Before Sunrise.
In 2026, she continued her rise with Climax, in which she plays Lee Yang-mi. She has also been announced as part of the cast of Human X Gumiho, scheduled for 2027, reaffirming her status as one of the actresses now regularly cast in leading roles in K-dramas.
