Choi Ji-woo

Choi Ji-woo
Born	Choi Mi-hyang June 11, 1975 Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea
Education	Pusan Women's College - Aerobic Dance
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1994–present
Agent	YG Entertainment
Korean name
Hangul	최지우
Hanja	崔智友
Revised Romanization	Choe Ji-u
McCune–Reischauer	Ch'oe Chiu
Birth name
Hangul	최미향
Revised Romanization	Choe Mi-hyang
McCune–Reischauer	Ch'oe Mihyang

Choi Ji-woo (born Choi Mi-hyang on June 11, 1975) is a South Korean actress. She is most famous for starring in the television melodramas Winter Sonata, Beautiful Days and Stairway to Heaven.

Career

Choi Mi-hyang was first discovered when she won a talent audition organized by MBC in 1994, then made her acting debut in the drama series War and Love in 1995. Afterwards, she adopted the stage name "Choi Ji-woo."

She was cast in her first major role in 1996 film The Gate of Destiny, but due to her limited acting skills, she was replaced in the middle of filming.^[1] In the next couple of years Choi continued to star in both TV dramas and films, including The Hole (a Korean remake of Hollywood thriller Hush), as well as the romantic comedies First Kiss with Ahn Jae-wook and The Romantic President with Ahn Sung-ki. But it was her portrayals on TV of tragic heroines with a pure and innocent image—notably in Truth opposite Ryu Si-won and Beautiful Days opposite Lee Byung-hun—that boosted her rising popularity.

In 2002, she reunited onscreen with Bae Yong-joon (she previously had a supporting role in his 1996 drama First Love) that she would star in her most famous, iconic role. Directed by Yoon Seok-ho as the second installment of his "season dramas,"^[2] Winter Sonata became a phenomenal hit throughout Asia and has been credited as one of the initiators of the Korean Wave.^[3] As a result, Choi gained wide pan-Asian recognition, especially a huge following in Japan where she acquired the nickname Ji-woo Hime ("Princess Ji-woo").^[4] In 2009 she and Bae reprised their roles as voice actors for Winter Sonata Anime.^[5][6][7] She continues to be a lucrative star and brand in Japan, fetching high licensing/broadcasting rights for her dramas and selling out concerts and merchandise (tvN's E News compiled a list of the top Hallyu stars in Japan based on their approximate gross incomes for the first half of 2011, and Choi was #5 with approximately US$2 million).

After the success of her 2003 melodrama Stairway to Heaven with Kwon Sang-woo, Choi again attempted to break into film. She played a terminally ill heroine in Now and Forever,^[8][9] and a more risque character in sex comedy Everybody Has Secrets (a Korean remake of Irish film About Adam).^[10][11] Both films were poorly received by critics and audiences in South Korea, but performed well at the Japanese box office.

Choi then spent the next few years overseas, shooting the Chinese drama 101st Proposal with Sun Xing, and the Japanese drama RONDO opposite Yutaka Takenouchi.^[12][13][14] She returned to Korean television in 2007 in Air City alongside Lee Jung-jae; her role was the Chief Operating Officer of Incheon Airport.^[15]

In 2009, she starred opposite Yoo Ji-tae in the drama Star's Lover, playing a top actress who falls in love with an ordinary man.^[16][17] Choi received ₩48 million per episode, the highest salary for a Korean actress at the time (her record was later broken by Go Hyun-jung's ₩55 million for the 2010 drama Daemul).^[18][19]

That same year, she set up her own management agency called C,JW Company with her brother as CEO.^[20][21] She also joined the ensemble cast of semi-improvisational mockumentary Actresses, arguably her most significant film yet.^[22][23]

During the press conference for the 2011 series, Can't Lose, co-starring Yoon Sang-hyun, featuring a lawyer couple facing their own divorce suit, she was asked if she worried about shedding her pure and innocent image. Choi said, "I've had the same image for 15 years. Isn't it time for me to break out? I was a melodrama queen and now I want the title of romantic comedy queen." She added that she had gained more fans after showing her cheerful, easygoing side as a guest on the reality show 2 Days & 1 Night.^[24][25]

In 2012, Choi was cast in the Chinese drama City Lovers, in which she portrayed the CEO at an event management company opposite Qin Hao, a newly employed businessman at her firm.^[26][27][28]

Later that year, she became the host of Choi Ji-woo's Delicious Korea on food lifestyle cable channel O'live TV alongside fashion designer Jung Kuho.^[29] The 5-episode show, which aired from November 23 to December 21, 2012, aimed to promote Korean cuisine and culture to the world, and the two hosts traveled through South Korea and introduced little-known regional food to the viewers.^[30][31]

She next headlined the 2013 remake of hit 2011 Japanese drama Kaseifu no Mita. In The Suspicious Housekeeper, Choi played the titular character, an icy and stoic yet amazingly capable housekeeper who comes to work for a recently widowed father and his four children.^[32][33] Despite the difficulty of not being able to react to her costars, Choi said she chose the role because she "was really charmed by the way the heroine refrains from letting her emotions show."^[34][35]

In February 2014, Choi signed with the talent agency YG Entertainment.^{[36][37][38][39]} She then reunited with previous costar Kwon Sang-woo in Temptation; she played a rich woman who makes a dangerous offer to a married man.^[40]

Choi joined the fourth season of travel-reality show Grandpas Over Flowers in 2015, where she and Lee Seo-jin backpacked through Greece with veteran actors Lee Soon-jae, Shin Goo, Park Geun-hyung and Baek Il-seob.^{[41][42][43][44]} She was next cast in Happy Facebook, a film about three couples and Choi's first big-screen project in six years.^[45]

This was followed by the cable series Twenty Again, where she played a woman who became a wife and mother at 19 then decides to experience campus college life for the first time at age 38 when she becomes a university student alongside her 20-year-old son.^[46][47]

Personal life

Choi majored in aerobic dance at Pusan Women's College. She later enrolled in Hanyang University's Department of Theater and Film and completed her first year; however she had to withdraw from college studies due to her hectic work schedule.

Choi dated her Air City co-star Lee Jin-wook from 2009 to 2011.^[48][49][50]

Filmography

Television drama

Year	Title	Role	Network
1995	War and Love		MBC
1996	MBC Best Theater "사랑, 그 하나만으로도"		MBC
	First Love	Kang Seok-hee	KBS2
	Three Guys and Three Girls	(guest appearance)	MBC
1997	Happiness Is in Our Hearts	Seon Kyung-ah	SBS
1998	Love	Yoo Ji-young	MBC
1999	Love In 3 Colors	Eun Ji-soo	KBS2
	Love Story	Min-jung (episode 2: "Message")	SBS
2000	Truth	Lee Ja-young	MBC
	Mr. Duke	Jang Soo-jin	MBC
2001	Beautiful Days	Kim Yeon-soo	SBS
2002	We Are Dating Now	(cameo, episode 15)	SBS
	Winter Sonata	Jeong Yoo-jin	KBS2
2003	Stairway to Heaven	Han Jung-seo	SBS
2004	Full House	Herself (cameo, episode 3)	KBS2
	101st Proposal	Li Shao Rong	BTV
2006	RONDO	Choi Yoon-ah	TBS
2007	Air City	Han Do-kyung	MBC
2008	Star's Lover	Lee Ma-ri	SBS
2009	Winter Sonata Anime	Jeong Yoo-jin (voice)	SKY PerfecTV!
2011	Fuyu no Sakura	Inaba Tatsuki's Korean girlfriend (cameo, episode 2)[51]	TBS
	Can't Lose	Lee Eun-jae	MBC
2012	City Lovers		AHTV
2013	The Suspicious Housekeeper	Park Bok-nyeo	SBS
2014	Temptation	Yoo Se-young	SBS
2015	We Broke Up	(cameo)	Naver TV Cast
	Twenty Again	Ha No-ra	tvN

Film

Year	Title	Role
1996	The Adventures of Mrs Park	Eun-jin
1997	Hallelujah	Bar madam (bit part)
	The Hole	Su-jin
1998	Alien	Kim's daughter (voice)
	First Kiss	Song Yeon-hwa
1999	Nowhere to Hide	Kim Ju-yeon
2002	The Romantic President	Choi Eun-soo
2004	Everybody Has Secrets	Han Sun-young
2005	Shadowless Sword	Female martial arts gosu (cameo)
2006	Now and Forever	Han Hye-won
2009	Actresses	Herself
2016	Like for Likes

Music video

Year	Song Title	Artist
1996	"Endless Love"	Kim Jung-min
1998	"Scenery"	Goo Bon-seung and Jang Dong-gun
	"Na Na Na"	Yoo Seung-jun
1999	"For Your Soul"	Jo Sung-mo
2003	"The Young Prince's Dream"	Cha Tae-hyun
2013	"Ziugae"[52]	ALi

Variety show

Year	Title	Role	Network
2004	Hanamaru Market	Guest	TBS
	SMAPxSMAP - Bistro SMAP	Guest	Fuji TV
2005	SMAPxSMAP skit "Old Maid"	Guest	Fuji TV
2006	Masahiro Nakai's SMAP Friday	Guest	TBS
	The Tunnels' Thanks to Everyone	Guest	Fuji TV
2007	Sanma no Manma	Guest	Fuji TV
	Infinite Challenge	Guest	MBC
2008	Line to the Law Center	VTR appearance	NTV
2011	2 Days & 1 Night	Guest, "Actress Special" (episodes 193-195)	KBS2
	Saturday Across Generations	Guest	KBS2
	Healing Camp, Aren't You Happy	Guest	SBS
2012	Choi Ji-woo's Delicious Korea	Host	O'live TV
	Running Man	Guest (episodes 126-127)	SBS
2013	MBC Human Documentary - Love	Narration	MBC
2014	Three Meals a Day	Guest (episodes 7-8)	tvN
2015	Grandpas Over Flowers	Cast member (season 4)	tvN
	Three Meals a Day - Season 2	Guest (episodes 10-11)	tvN

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
1995	Korea's Isabelle Adjani Contest	N/A	N/A	Won
1996	KBS Drama Awards	Best New Actress	First Love	Nominated
1997	18th Blue Dragon Film Awards	Best New Actress	The Hole	Nominated
1998	34th Baeksang Arts Awards	Best New Actress (Film)		Won
	21st Golden Cinematography Awards	Best New Actress		Won
1999	14th Golden Disk Awards	Golden Video Best Actress	For Your Soul	Won
	20th Blue Dragon Film Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Nowhere to Hide	Nominated
2000	37th Grand Bell Awards	Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
	MBC Drama Awards	Excellence Award, Actress	Mr. Duke	Won
2001	SBS Drama Awards	Top 10 Stars	Beautiful Days	Won
		Excellence Award, Actress		Won
2002	38th Baeksang Arts Awards	Most Popular Actress (TV)	Winter Sonata	Won
	Model Line Best Dresser Awards	Swan Award	N/A	Won
	KBS Drama Awards	Popularity Award	Winter Sonata	Won
		Top Excellence Award, Actress		Won
2003	Andre Kim Best Star Awards[53]	Female Star Award	N/A	Won
	26th Golden Cinematography Awards	Most Popular Actress	The Romantic President	Won
	SBS Drama Awards	Top 10 Stars	Stairway to Heaven	Won
		Excellence Award, Actress in a Drama Special		Won
2004	40th Baeksang Arts Awards	Most Popular Actress (TV)		Won
	4th Proud Korean Awards (Journalists Federation of Korea)	Recipient	N/A	Won
2005	41st Baeksang Arts Awards	Hallyu Special Award	N/A	Won
	The Motion Pictures Association of Korea	Hallyu Special Award	N/A	Won
2006	Dior Timeless Beauty Awards[54]	Recipient	N/A	Won
2009	International Cultural Industry Exchange Foundation Awards	Recipient	N/A	Won
	4th Seoul International Drama Awards[55][56]	Inducted into the Star Hall of Fame	N/A	Won
	36th Tourism Day	Presidential Commendation[57]	N/A	Won
	SBS Drama Awards	Excellence Award, Actress in a Drama Special	Star's Lover	Nominated
2010	World Tourism Cities Forum	Top Popularity Award	N/A	Won
2011	MBC Drama Awards	Best Couple Award with Yoon Sang-hyun	Can't Lose	Nominated
		Popularity Award		Nominated
2012	7th Asia Model Festival Awards[58][59]	Asia Star Award	N/A	Won
	Seoul International Social Work Conference	Social Welfare Award[60]	N/A	Won
2013	SBS Drama Awards	Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Drama Special	The Suspicious Housekeeper	Nominated
2014	7th Korea Drama Awards	Top Excellence Award, Actress		Nominated
	SBS Drama Awards	Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Drama Special	Temptation	Nominated

References

1. "Choi Ji-woo talks being replaced". Korea JoongAng Daily. 27 December 2011.
2. "Producer Yun Seok-ho, the creator of Yonsama and the hallyu frenzy". KBS Global. 17 January 2005.
3. "Is it all over already? Gloomy signs overshadow rosy statistics of Hallyu". The Korea Herald via Hancinema. 11 July 2005.
4. "Pure Love: Tear-Jerking Love Stories Enthrall Japanese Women". Web Japan. 14 October 2004.
5. "Bae, Choi to Voice Winter Sonata Cartoon". The Korea Times. 30 May 2008.
6. "A reunion in 7 years: Yonsama and Jiwoohime". 10Asia. 29 September 2009.
7. "Bae Yong-joon, Choi Ji-woo reunite for Winter Sonata anime". 10Asia. 2 February 2010.
8. "Love Letter Starring Choi Ji-woo and Cho Han-sung to Open Next Year". KBS Global. 5 August 2005.
9. "Yeonriji ("Now and Forever") Depends Heavily on Ji-woo Hime". The Korea Times via Hancinema. 13 April 2006.
10. "Sexy Secret Has Little to Tell". The Korea Times. 29 July 2004.
11. "Sex and Laughter in a Game of Love". The Dong-a Ilbo. 29 July 2004.
12. "Choi Ji-woo to Co-Star with Takenouchi Yutaka". KBS Global. 4 July 2005.
13. "Actress Choi Ji-woo Stars in Joint Korean-Japanese TV Drama". KBS Global. 20 December 2005.
14. "TV Drama Rondo Starring Choi Ji-woo Suffers Low Viewer Ratings". KBS Global. 24 February 2006.
15. "This is Who I am". W Korea (in Korean). June 2007.
16. "Celebrity's Sweetheart Knocks on Viewers Hearts". The Korea Times. 2 December 2008.
17. "Mega drama duo signals hot winter". The Korea Herald. 1 December 2008.
18. "Koh Hyun-jung, highest paid Korean actress". The Korea Times. 12 April 2011.
19. "Ko Hyun-jung Sets New Soap Opera Earnings Record". The Chosun Ilbo. 12 April 2011.
20. http://www.cjwcompany.co.kr/
21. "Actresses Choosing To Be Managed By Family". KBS World. 10 December 2010.
22. "Actresses is a miracle achieved, says Koh (Part 1)". 10Asia. 23 November 2009.
23. "Actresses is a miracle achieved, says Koh (Part 2)". 10Asia. 23 November 2009.
24. "Choi Ji-woo Can't Lose in romantic comedy". The Korea Times. 23 August 2011.
25. "Choi Ji-woo Thrilled About Shaking Off Old Image". The Chosun Ilbo. 25 August 2011.
26. "Choi Ji-woo to return to Chinese TV series in 9 years, teaming up with Qin Hao". 10Asia. 27 June 2012.
27. "Choi Ji Woo Stars in Her First Chinese Drama in Nine Years". enewsWorld. 27 June 2012.
28. "Choi Ji-woo returns to Chinese drama". Korea JoongAng Daily. 28 June 2012.
29. Lim, Youngjin (2012-10-29). "최지우, 요리프로 MC발탁..디자이너 정구호와 호흡".
30. "Choi Ji-woo Will Introduce Korean Food as TV Host". 10Asia. 30 October 2012.
31. "Choi Ji Woo to Look Far and Wide for Delicious Korean Foods in a Documentary". enewsWorld. 3 November 2012.
32. "Choi Ji-woo to Play Housekeeper in an Upcoming Drama". 10Asia. 31 July 2013.
33. "Choi Ji-woo to Play Housemaid in a New Drama". The Chosun Ilbo. 10 August 2013.
34. "Choi Ji-woo to play modern-day Mary Poppins". The Korea Herald. 16 September 2013.
35. "Suspicious role challenged Choi". Korea JoongAng Daily. 5 December 2013.
36. "Choi Ji Woo Signs with YG Entertainment". enewsWorld. 26 February 2014.
37. "Actress Choi Ji-woo joins YG Entertainment". The Korea Herald. 27 February 2014.
38. "Actress Choi Ji-woo Joins YG Entertainment". 10Asia. 26 February 2014.
39. "Hallyu icon joins YG Family". Korea JoongAng Daily. 27 February 2014.
40. "Look who's back together: Kwon Sang-woo, Choi Ji-woo re-united in SBS drama Temptation". The Korea Times. 11 July 2014.
41. "Choi Ji-woo joins grandpas on tvN show". K-pop Herald. 16 February 2015.
42. "Choi Ji-woo is real gem in Grandpas over Flowers". The Korea Herald. 24 March 2015.
43. "Hallyu star joins Grandpas Over Flowers". The Korea Times. 25 March 2015.
44. "Korea's 4 favorite Grandpas return". Korea JoongAng Daily. 27 March 2015.
45. "Choi Ji-woo returns to film". Korea JoongAng Daily. 1 June 2015.
46. "Choi Ji Woo Confirmed for New tvN Drama". enewsWorld. 9 July 2015.
47. "Choi Ji-woo to play a college student Actress". Korea JoongAng Daily. July 10, 2015.
48. "Innocent Cougars?". The Korea Times. 28 December 2009.
49. "Choi Ji-woo and Lee Jin-wook breakup". 10Asia. 28 April 2011.
50. "Hallyu actress Choi Ji-woo publicly seeks for a date". WorknPlay. 26 December 2011.
51. "Choi Ji Woo to make a guest appearance in winter drama, Fuyu no Sakura". Tokyo Hive. 9 January 2011.
52. "Choi Ji-woo Takes Lead in ALI's New Music Video". 10Asia. 31 January 2013.
53. "Top Stars Win Andre Kim Awards". The Korea Times. 1 May 2007.
54. "Choi Ji-woo Named Korea's Greatest Acting Beauty". The Chosun Ilbo. 7 August 2006.
55. "Star Hall of Fame Celebrates Choi Ji-woo". The Chosun Ilbo. 20 August 2009.
56. "Dramas, Stars to Compete at Seoul Intl Drama Awards". The Korea Times. 25 August 2009.
57. "Actress Choi Ji-woo to receive President's honor". 10Asia. 24 September 2009.
58. "Asia Model Awards". KBS World. 18 January 2012.
59. "Choi Ji-woo, Kara win Asia Star at 2012 Asia Model Awards". The Korea Herald. 19 January 2012.
60. "Choi Ji Woo receives Seoul City Social Welfare Award". StarN News. 7 September 2012.

External links

• Choi Ji-woo at YG Entertainment (Korean)
• Choi Ji-woo at HanCinema
• Choi Ji-woo at the Internet Movie Database
• Choi Ji-woo at the Korean Movie Database