Jun Ji-hyun (Jeon Ji-hyun), whose real name is Wang Ji-hyun, is a South Korean actress and model born on October 30, 1981, in Seoul. An iconic figure in Korean film and television, she is considered one of the biggest stars of the Hallyu wave thanks to a career marked by numerous critical and commercial successes.
She began her career as a model in the late 1990s before making her film debut with White Valentine (1999). However, it was in 2001 that she achieved international fame thanks to the romantic comedy My Sassy Girl, which became a true phenomenon in Asia and is now considered one of the most influential films in Korean romantic cinema. Her performance earned her immediate recognition and made her one of South Korea’s most popular actresses.
She went on to have a prestigious film career with movies such as The Uninvited, Windstruck, Daisy, A Man Who Was Superman, The Thieves, The Berlin File and Assassination. His performances in a variety of genres—ranging from romance to thrillers to historical action films—have established him as a staple of Korean cinema.
After several years spent primarily on the big screen, she made a triumphant return to television in 2013 with My Love from the Star. In it, she plays Cheon Song-yi, a famous actress who falls in love with an alien played by Kim Soo-hyun. The drama has been a phenomenal hit throughout Asia and has reignited the Hallyu wave internationally, making Jun Ji-hyun one of South Korea's highest-paid actresses.
She built on that success in 2016 with The Legend of the Blue Sea, in which she plays a mermaid named Shim Cheongalongside Lee Min-ho. The series became one of the biggest hits of the year and further cemented its global popularity.
In 2020, she made a highly publicized appearance in the final episode of Kingdom – Season 2 by embodying Ashin, a character who will later take center stage in the special episode Kingdom: Ashin of the North. The following year, she returned in a leading role in the mountain drama Jirisan, in which she plays a forest ranger Seo Yi-kang.
After several years away from the screen, she returned to television in 2025 with the spy thriller Tempest, in which she plays the lead role of Seo Moon-ju. She then continued her career in 2026 with the science-fiction film Colony, before being announced as part of the cast of the fantasy drama Human x Gumiho (2027), in which she plays Koo Ja-hong.
Renowned for her elegance, charisma, and remarkable longevity, Jun Ji-hyun remains one of the most influential and iconic actresses in the Korean entertainment industry, both in film and on television.
