About
Hoyeon Jung (born June 23, 1994 in Seoul, South Korea) is a model-turned-actor who rocketed to worldwide fame playing Kang Sae-byeok in Netflix’s 2021 phenomenon Squid Game. Already celebrated on global runways for her flame-red hair and magnetic walk, she became the most-followed Korean actress on Instagram within weeks of the series’ release. Her breakout earned her the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, making her one of the first performers in a non-English series to claim the prize. Since then, Jung has balanced high-fashion campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Chanel Beauty, and Adidas with a fast-growing screen résumé that includes music videos, streaming dramas, and soon, feature films. In January 2025 she opened a new chapter by signing with BH Entertainment, home to top talents like Lee Byung-hun, signalling an even busier acting future.
Before Fame
Jung knew early that she loved performance and clothing. She began modelling at 16, hustling through Seoul Fashion Week castings with fire-engine-red hair she dyed herself for distinctiveness. A semifinal run on Korea’s Next Top Model in 2013 raised her profile, and by 2016 she was a Louis Vuitton exclusive in Paris, walking for Alexander McQueen and Prabal Gurung. Life on the international circuit felt glamorous yet lonely, so during holidays she quietly enrolled in acting workshops in Seoul and sharpened her English while travelling. Those lessons paid off when, in 2020, talent agency Saram Entertainment asked her to audition for Squid Game. She sent in a self-tape from New York Fashion Week, flew home for a callback, and landed the role that would flip her career from catwalks to cameras.
Trivia
- Instant fan favourite: Within ten days of Squid Game premiering, her Instagram following jumped from 400 k to over 20 million, a record surge for a Korean performer.
- Dialect dedication: To portray a North-Korean defector, she practised the Hamgyŏng accent with real refugees and kept a diary in character every night on set.
- Music-video muse: The Weeknd cast her opposite himself in the 2022 video “Out of Time,” and rookie K-pop group NewJeans featured her in two 2023 videos, underscoring her pop-culture pull.
- Cameo chef: She slipped into 2024’s quirky Korean Netflix comedy Chicken Nugget as food blogger Hong Cha – a wink to her own status as a celebrity foodie.
- Award trailblazer: Jung’s SAG win, paired with co-star Lee Jung-jae’s, marked the first time actors from a non-English drama swept both individual television categories.
Family Life
Born the middle child of three sisters, Jung grew up in a busy household that ran a small restaurant in Seoul’s Myeon-dong district. She credits watching her parents juggle customers as inspiration for her own work ethic. For nearly a decade she was in a low-key relationship with actor Lee Dong-hwi; the pair bonded over vintage fashion and indie movies before amicably parting ways in late 2024, citing schedules and long distance. She remains close to her siblings and often shares snaps of casual dinners with them, saying they “keep my sneakers on the ground” even as luxury brands fly her first-class.
Associated With
- Alfonso Cuarón – Cast Jung opposite Cate Blanchett and Kevin Kline in his Apple TV+ thriller series Disclaimer (2024).
- Joe Talbot, Lily-Rose Depp & Renate Reinsve – She will co-star with them in A24’s forthcoming film The Governesses, set to be her feature-length debut.
- Na Hong-jin, Michael Fassbender & Alicia Vikander – Jung joined the high-profile cast of Na’s survival thriller Hope, continuing her pivot toward daring projects.
- Louis Vuitton’s Nicolas Ghesquière – As house ambassador since 2021, she fronts runway shows and fragrance campaigns, bringing couture credibility to her acting pursuits.
- BH Entertainment’s Lee Byung-hun – The veteran actor’s agency now guides Jung’s career; industry watchers expect collaborations in films under its expanding production wing.
