In 1997, the year she turned 16, she entered show business as a cover model for the magazine Ecole. The next year she made her drama debut in a supporting role in SBS’s Fascinate My Heart.
The breakthrough yearIn 1999, the year she turned 18, she made her screen debut in the film White Valentine and played Seo Yoon-joo in SBS’s Happy Together. That year she also appeared in a Samsung My Jet printer commercial built around a techno dance. Korea Economic Daily and Dong-A Ilbo wrote that it made the then-unknown actress a star. At the end of the year she won a new actor award at the SBS Drama Awards.
In 2000, she appeared in the film Il Mare. In 2001, My Sassy Girl opened and drew 4.9 million admissions. Hollywood remake rights were also sold. In 2002, she won best actress at the Grand Bell Awards for the same film.
In 2003, she appeared in The Uninvited. In 2004, Windstruck opened simultaneously in Korea and Hong Kong. At the end of the year she declared the opening of the K-1 World GP final at the Tokyo Dome.
In 2006, she played Hye-young, a street painter, in Daisy. In 2008, she appeared in A Man Who Was Superman as a documentary producer. In 2009, she played the vampire hunter Saya in the Hong Kong–Japan–France co-production Blood: The Last Vampire, widening her work abroad.
In 2010, she founded J&Co, a one-person agency. In 2012, she married, and The Thieves drew 12.98 million admissions to rank first among Korean films that year. She then moved to Culture Depot. In 2013, she appeared in The Berlin File and played the top star Cheon Song-yi in SBS’s My Love from the Star.
In 2014, she won the Daesang at the SBS Drama Awards for My Love from the Star. The drama made chimaek (fried chicken and beer) popular in China. In 2015, Assassination drew more than 12.7 million admissions, seventh among all Korean films. In 2016, her first child was born, and she played the mermaid Sim Cheong in SBS’s The Legend of the Blue Sea.
In 2018, her second child was born. In 2021, she appeared in Netflix’s Kingdom: Ashin of the North and tvN’s Jirisan. In 2022, her contract with Culture Depot, where she had spent 10 years, ended, and she moved to Ieum Hashtag. In 2025, she played Mun-ju, an ambassador to the UN, in Disney+’s Tempest. In 2026, Colony was invited to the Midnight Screenings section of the Cannes Film Festival and drew 5.95 million admissions in Korea. She won the Star Asia Award at the New York Asian Film Festival.
Jun Ji-hyun (born Oct 30, 1981) entered show business in 1997, the year she turned 16, as a cover model for the magazine Ecole, and became known in 1999, the year she turned 18, through a Samsung My Jet printer commercial. My Sassy Girl opened on Jul 27, 2001, the year she turned 20, and became her best-known film.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.