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Pierce Conran

Later this month, Jung Yu-mi will return to the small screen alongside Ju Ji-hoon in the romantic drama Love Your Enemy, marking her first time on our TV sets since her streaming debut in Netflix’s The School Nurse Files four years ago.
But Jung has never been one to stick to a single format. During that TV hiatus, she has also been active in a handful of big-screen titles, as well as reality TV.
While her TV work would not come until later, from the beginning of her career Jung mixed big and small roles in commercial and indie projects.
After appearing in a couple of shorts, she got her mainstream start with a bit-part role in Kim Jee-woon’s crime classic A Bittersweet Life, playing Mi-ae, the friend of Shin Min-a’s character Hee Soo.

She has appeared in no less than six Hong Sang-soo films, other art-house milestones like Café Noir, as well as the cult horror film Chaw and the tender youth romance Blossom Again, her first leading role back in 2005.
Why we love her
Jung excels at playing ordinary characters with an unusual edge. Marked with curiosity, her bright and wide eyes give her a screen magnetism that heightens the impact of the situations and backgrounds her characters take in.
She has the ability to draw us in and make us feel what her characters are experiencing. We are there with her in the story, rather than just watching her on the screen.

One of Jung’s richest collaborations has been with Youn Yuh-jung, the Oscar-winning screen legend from Minari and Pachinko.
Their first collaboration was on Hong Sang-soo’s In Another Country with Isabelle Huppert. However, they first appeared together in Hong’s wistful and charming short List. Following the production of In Another Country, some of the cast and crew stuck around to shoot List, which wound up seeing the light of day first.
The pair’s most famous collaborations have been a series of extremely popular reality TV shows, starting with Youn’s Kitchen in 2017.
The series follows Youn running a Korean restaurant in different parts of the world, with Jung appearing as one of her managers.

A massive success, the show spawned a second season and several spin-offs, including Youn’s Stay, which changes the format to a hotel, and the recent two seasons of Jinny’s Kitchen, without Youn, but still starring Jung.
The star-making roles
Jung earned the best new actress award at the Korean Film Awards in 2006 for Kim Tae-yong’s classic Family Ties, a rich and complex drama about interlocking families. She teamed up with Kim again for this year’s sci-fi melodrama Wonderland.
However, Jung’s major box office breakthrough would be the powerful child abuse drama Silenced alongside Gong Yoo – the first of their four on-screen collaborations to date. The film sparked outrage across the country for its true tale about the events that took place at a school for the hearing-impaired.

Following that big-screen success, Jung made herself known to small-screen audiences in her first drama hit, the workplace comedy The Queen of Office, alongside Kim Hye-soo.
The iconic parts
Jung’s biggest box office triumph was the zombies-on-a-train smash Train to Busan, in which she memorably played a pregnant passenger being protected by her burly husband, played by Ma Dong-seok (aka Don Lee).
For her first leading TV role, Jung put on a police officer’s uniform in Live, playing an ordinary patrol woman trying to juggle her personal and professional lives.

Jung once again found herself in a controversial project when she starred in the feminist novel adaptation Kim Ji-young, Born 1982, about a woman suffering from the social roles ascribed by her gender in Korea’s still very patriarchal society.
Despite upsetting a portion of the population, the film was a smash hit.
In 2020, Jung teamed up with Nam Joo-hyuk for her first Netflix project The School Nurse Files, playing the titular school nurse who attempts to protect the school’s students from far worse things than colds and bruises.
In 2023, Jung appeared alongside the late actor Lee Sun-kyun in the Cannes Film Festival-screened Sleep.
This acclaimed horror follows a newlywed couple and what happens to them after the husband begins to behave very strangely once they have both gone to bed.

The unheralded performances
Jung has been recognised for all her roles in South Korea, although many of her best roles were in films that are less well known internationally.
Among these is the delightfully off-kilter romantic comedy My Dear Desperado, in which she plays a young jobseeker who embarks on a relationship with Park Joong-hoon’s older small-time gangster.
Jung’s most recent indie work has been Kim Jong-kwan’s The Table, a wonderful collection of intense and lyrical conversations between different characters in the same cafe.

Tomorrow’s turns
Although Jung has no official upcoming projects, she does have one unreleased project with an unusual production history. In 2021, Jung completed filming eight episodes of the drama When the Day Breaks alongside Han Suk-kyu.
Based on Chen Zijin’s Chinese novel The Long Night, the production encountered criticism, with some interpreting the book’s values as anti-democratic. Production on the 16-episode series was put on hold and has yet to be resumed.


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Jung Yu-mi in a still from Love Your Enemy.

Korean actress Jung Yu-mi will next be seen in the K-drama series Love Your Enemy. Photo: Instagram/jungyumigram.

Jung Yu-mi in a still from The School Nurse Files (2020). Photo: Netflix

Jung Yu-mi in a still from the short film List (2011).

Jung Yu-mi (left) and Ma Dong-seok in a still from Train to Busan (2016).

Jung Yu-mi in a still from Live (2018).

Jung Yu-mi in a still from Sleep (2023).

Jung Yu-mi in a still from Kim Ji-young, Born 1982. Photo: Edko Films

Kim Nam-gil as unorthodox priest Kim Hae-il in a still from The Fiery Priest season two, a Korean drama on Disney+.

Bibi as police officer Gu Ja-young in a still from The Fiery Priest season two.

Seo Hyun-woo as Busan prosecutor Nam Doo-heon in a still from The Fiery Priest season two.

Lee Hanee as prosecutor Park Kyung-sun in a still from The Fiery Priest season two.

Kim Sung-kyun as detective Goo Dae-young in a still from The Fiery Priest season two.

Who is Kim Tae-ri, beloved Korean actress in Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born and Revenant?

Kim Tae-ri in a still from Jeongnyeon: A Star Is Born.

Korean actress Kim Tae-ri, currently on screen in the K-drama series Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born, burst onto the scene in acclaimed 2016 erotic thriller The Handmaiden. Photo: Instagram/kimtaeri_official

Kim Tae-ri in a still from Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born.

Kim Tae-ri (front) and Kim Min-hee in a still from The Handmaiden (2016).

Kim Tae-ri in a still from 1987: When the Day Comes (2017).

Lee Byung-hun (left) and Kim Tae-ri in a still from Mr. Sunshine (2018). Photo: Hwa&Dam/Netflix

Kim Tae-ri in a still from Revenant (2023). Photo: Disney+

Kim Tae-ri in a still from Alienoid (2022).

Who is Kim Young-dae, the rising K-drama star of No Gain No Love and Perfect Family?

Kim Young-dae in a still from No Gain No Love.

Korean actor Kim Young-dae cemented his acting status in K-dramas Extraordinary You and The Penthouse. Now he stars in No Gain No Love, and Perfect Family, and has more projects in the works. Photo: Instagram/@youngdae0302

Kim in a still from No Gain No Love.

Kim in a still from Perfect Family.

Kim in a still from Extraordinary You (2018).

Kim in a still from Sh**ting Stars (2022).

Kim as King Lee Heon in a still from The Forbidden Marriage (2022).

Kim in a still from The Penthouse (2020).

Who is Park Ju-hyun, feisty actress known for K-dramas Perfect Family and Extracurricular?

Korean actress Park Ju-hyun. Photo: Instagram/@charmgirl_1005.

Korean actress Park Ju-hyun, star of new K-drama series Perfect Family, who is known for her roles in dramas Mouse and Extracurricular and appears regularly in big-screen roles. Photo: Instagram/@charmgirl_1005.

Park Ju-hyun in a still from Perfect Family.

Park Ju-hyun in a still from Extracurricular (2020).

Park Ju-hyun in a still from Mouse (2021).

Park Ju-hyun in a still from Zombie Detective (2020).

Park Ju-hyun as Park Yoon-hee in a still from Seoul Vibe (2022). Photo: Song Kyungsub/Netflix

Park Ju-hyun (centre) in a still from Project Silence (2023).

Park Ju-hyun and Jaehyun of K-pop boy band NCT in a still from You Will Die in 6 Hours.

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Jung Yu-mi has appeared in films such as Train to Busan, Korean dramas including The School Nurse Files, and reality TV show Youn’s Kitchen


Jung Yu-mi has appeared in films such as Train to Busan, Korean dramas including The School Nurse Files, and reality TV show Youn’s Kitchen.


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Jung Yu-mi has appeared in films such as Train to Busan, Korean dramas including The School Nurse Files, and reality TV show Youn’s Kitchen

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