Sung Hyun-ah (; born July 23, 1975) is a South Korean actress and beauty pageant titleholder who placed 2nd runner-up at Miss Korea 1994.

Biography

Sung Hyun-ah placed second runner-up (or third place) at the Miss Korea pageant in 1994. She was the country's representative at the 1994 Miss International pageant, where she was a semi-finalist and won Miss Photogenic. Sung made her acting debut in ''

Salut D'Amour ''Salut d'Amour'' (''Liebesgruß''), Op. 12, is a musical work composed by Edward Elgar in 1888, originally written for violin and piano. History Elgar finished the piece in July 1888, when he was romantically involved with Caroline Alice Ro ...

'', and continued to appear in TV dramas such as ''See and See Again'' (also known as ''Can't Take My Eyes Off You''), ''Should My Tears Show'', '' Hur Jun'', ''One Day Suddenly'', ''

Bad Woman, Good Woman ''Bad Woman, Good Woman'' () is a 2007 South Korean television series starring Choi Jin-sil, Lee Jae-ryong, Sung Hyun-ah, and Jeon No-min. It aired on Mondays to Fridays at 19:45 on MBC from January 1 to July 13, 2007 for 140 episodes. The da ...

'', '' Yi San'', and '' Flames of Desire''. She also released an EP in 2004 titled ''Turn It Up'' under the name A.One. But Sung became best known for her strong, sexy roles in films such as

Hong Sang-soo Hong Sang-soo (Korean language, Korean: 홍상수; born 25 October 1960) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. An acclaimed and prolific filmmaker, Hong is known for his Slow cinema, slow-paced films about love affairs and everyday d ...

's '' Woman is the Future of Man'', Kim Tae-eun's ''The Intimate'', and

Kim Ki-duk Kim Ki-duk ( ; 20 December 196011 December 2020) was a South Korean film director and screenwriter, noted for his Idiosyncrasy, idiosyncratic Art film, art-house cinematic works. His films have received many distinctions in the festival circuit ...

's ''

Time Time is the continuous progression of existence that occurs in an apparently irreversible process, irreversible succession from the past, through the present, and into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequ ...

''. She also appeared in ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a historical novel by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, who concei ...

'' and ''

The Customer Is Always Right "The customer is always right" is a motto or slogan which exhorts service staff to give a high priority to customer satisfaction. It was popularised by pioneering and successful retailers such as Harry Gordon Selfridge, John Wanamaker and Marsh ...

''. In 2007 Sung won the Best Actress award from the Malaga International Fantastic Film Festival in Spain, for her role in the horror film ''

Cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

''. No stranger to controversy, Sung was caught for using the drug ecstasy in 2002, and previously published a book containing nude photographs of herself. In 2006, a dispute broke out between Sung and the producers of the movie ''The Intimate'' when she protested against their marketing

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "troop leadership; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " a ...

to emphasize only the

nude scenes In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scenes, ...

. Sung said, "I filmed the nude scenes to make a good movie. I can't bear to see that such scenes are being used as tools for promotion. I am not an actress who undresses and tumbles about for no reason." She declared that from then on, she would avoid nude scenes altogether. She married businessman Heo Eun-gyo on December 9, 2007 at the Paradise Hotel in

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

. After she and Heo divorced in 2010, Sung remarried three months later and gave birth to a son in 2012. In December 2013, Sung was indicted on charges of prostitution, for allegedly receiving from a businessman surnamed Chae with whom she met up three times for sexual intercourse in 2010. She countersued to prove her innocence. In August 2014, the court dismissed Sung's request for a full trial and ruled that she was guilty of prostitution; she was sentenced to a fine of (). But, on February 18, 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that she was innocent of prostitution charges, overturning the lower court's decision.

Filmography

Film

*''

'' (2006) *''The Customer Is Always Right'' (2006) *''The Intimate'' (2005) *''

'' (2005) *''

'' (2004) *'' Woman is the Future of Man'' (2004) *''Live or Die'' (2003) *''Boss X-File'' (2002) *''Hallelujah'' (1997)

Television drama

*''

KBS TV Novel ''KBS TV Novel'' () is a TV series that was broadcast on KBS 2TV at 09:00 ( KST) during weekdays, developed and produced by the KBS Drama Production group. It was broadcast on KBS 1TV until 2009. The production and broadcasting were temporarily ...

:'' " Through the Waves" (KBS, 2018) *'' Flames of Desire'' (MBC, 2010–2011) *'' Ja Myung Go'' (SBS, 2009) *''

Lee San, Wind of the Palace ''Lee San, Wind of the Palace'' (), also known as ''Yi San'', is a 2007 South Korean historical drama, starring Lee Seo-jin and Han Ji-min. It aired on MBC from September 17, 2007 to June 16, 2008 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55. The seri ...

'' (MBC, 2007–2008) *''

'' (MBC, 2007) *''One Day Suddenly'' (SBS, 2006) *''Open Drama Man and Woman'' "I'm Mr. Heidi and Married" (SBS, 2001) *''Twins'' (KBS, 2001) *''Lipstick'' (iTV, 2001) *''MBC Best Theater'' "Train Heading to Kaikoura" (MBC, 2000) *''Because of You'' (MBC, 2000) *'' Hur Jun'' (MBC, 1999–2000) *''Should My Tears Show'' (MBC, 1999) *''Crystal'' (SBS, 1999) *''Advocate'' (MBC, 1998) *''See and See Again'' (MBC, 1998–1999) *''Kim Chang-wan's Three Stories'' (KBS, 1998) *''Devotion'' (KBS, 1997) *''70-Minute Dramas'' "A Man With a Bag" (SBS, 1997) *''18 Years of Growing Up'' (SBS, 1996) *''Exploration of Man'' (SBS, 1996) *''LA Arirang'' (SBS, 1995–1996) *''MBC Best Theater'' "Adelaide" (MBC, 1995) *''

'' (KBS2, 1994)

Variety show

*''Scandal 2.0'' (tvN, 2009) *''Catch-One's World of Film'' (Catch-One, 1999) *진상을 찾아라 (HBS, 1997) *세상체험, 온몸을 던져라 (SBS, 1997) *행운의 일요특급 (KBS, 1995) *명사 가요초대석 (MBC, 1995)

Discography

Awards

*2007 10th Malaga International Fantastic Film Festival: Best Actress (''

'') * 1994 34th Miss International Pageant: Miss Photogenic *1994 38th Miss Korea Pageant: 2nd Runner-up

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sung, Hyun-ah 1975 births South Korean film actresses South Korean television actresses Miss International 1994 delegates Living people Miss Korea delegates South Korean criminals People acquitted of crimes