Han Ji-hye (born Lee Ji-hye on June 29, 1984) is a South Korean actress.

Background

Born Lee Ji-hye, she used the

stage name A stage name or professional name is a pseudonym used by performers, authors, and entertainers—such as actors, comedians, singers, and musicians. The equivalent concept among writers is called a ''nom de plume'' (pen name). Some performers ...

"Han Ji-hye" upon learning that her real name would cause confusion among fans since an older actress, Lena Lee, also has the same

Korean name Korean names are names that place their origin in, or are used in, Korea. A Korean name in the modern era typically consists of a surname followed by a given name, with no middle names. A number of Korean terms for names exist. For full names, ...

Career

2001–2007

Han made her entertainment debut as a

model A model is an informative representation of an object, person, or system. The term originally denoted the plans of a building in late 16th-century English, and derived via French and Italian ultimately from Latin , . Models can be divided in ...

, then started acting in

supporting role A supporting character is a character in a narrative that is not the focus of the primary storyline, but is important to the plot/protagonist, and appears or is mentioned in the story enough to be more than just a minor character or a cameo a ...

s in

TV drama In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular su ...

s such as '' Summer Scent''. She landed her first leading role in '' Sweet 18''. The next couple of years saw Han starring in low-rating dramas, but her 2007 daily drama ''

Likeable or Not In sociology, popularity is how much a person, idea, place, item or other concept is either liked or accorded status by other people. Liking can be due to reciprocal liking, interpersonal attraction, and similar factors. Social status can be ...

'' became very popular, topping the ratings chart during its run and recording the highest rating for a daily drama since 2000. Han then displayed newfound maturity and great improvement in her acting in the 2008 epic drama '' East of Eden''.

2008–2011

In 2008, Han along with Leon Jay Williams sang the Korean and Chinese versions of Olympic theme song "Friends." She was brought to the project via a proposal from the Chinese Olympic committee to sing "Friends" as the official swimming theme of the

Beijing National Aquatics Centre The Water Cube (水立方), fully a.k.a. the National Aquatics Centre (), is a swimming center at the Olympic Green in Chaoyang, Beijing, China. The Water Cube was originally constructed to host the aquatics competitions at the 2008 Summer O ...

at the Beijing Olympics. Less than a year later, she again recorded a

digital single In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standa ...

, an upbeat electro-pop song titled "Luv Luv". After studying the craft of shoemaking and design in

Florence, Italy Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in its metropolitan province as of 2025. Florence was a centre of medieval European t ...

, Han collaborated with existing shoe brand Jinny Kim to design and produce her own line, called "H by Jinny Kim." This was documented on ''Han Ji-hye: Shoes! My Dream!'' which aired on cable channel O'live TV. The Fall/Winter 2009 collection were sold in major department stores in Seoul and the surrounding metro areas, as well as in a well-known department store in Singapore and various online shopping malls. Han then published ''My Fair Lady'', a collection of autobiographical lifestyle

essay An essay ( ) is, generally, a piece of writing that gives the author's own argument, but the definition is vague, overlapping with those of a Letter (message), letter, a term paper, paper, an article (publishing), article, a pamphlet, and a s ...

s. The volume focused on Han's hobbies and daily life rather than on her onscreen work and contained Han's writings about her experiences as a twentysomething single woman, as well as her reflections on her life. It also touched on the various projects she has undertaken such as designing shoes, studying tea ceremony, learning about ceramics, DIY furniture making, and fabric art. Director Lee Joon-ik cast Han in his 2010 period

action film The action film is a film genre that predominantly features chase sequences, fights, shootouts, explosions, and stunt work. The specifics of what constitutes an action film has been in scholarly debate since the 1980s. While some scholars such as D ...

'' Blades of Blood'' without auditioning her — not for her talents, but for her Asian-looking eyes. Aside from finding her single eyelid unique and difficult to find in recent years, Lee liked that she related to him in a natural manner. Han said that Lee scolded her a lot in the beginning of the shoot for not acting well, so she used the pain in her heart to portray her character such that she improved towards the middle of the filming and learned a lot from him. She also sang on the

soundtrack A soundtrack is a recorded audio signal accompanying and synchronised to the images of a book, drama, motion picture, radio program, television show, television program, or video game; colloquially, a commercially released soundtrack album of m ...

, having played a

gisaeng ''Kisaeng'' (), also called ''ginyeo'' (), were enslaved women from outcast or enslaved families who were trained to be courtesans, providing artistic entertainment and conversation to men of upper class. First emerging in Goryeo dynasty. were ...

in the film. After starring in her first period drama series in 2011's '' The Duo'', she played a woman who helps a young man achieve his dreams in the single-episode drama ''

Pianist A pianist ( , ) is a musician who plays the piano. A pianist's repertoire may include music from a diverse variety of styles, such as traditional classical music, jazz piano, jazz, blues piano, blues, and popular music, including rock music, ...

'', and a visually impaired teacher in the 2-part

Chuseok Chuseok (; , ), also known as Hangawi (; ; from Old Korean, "the great middle f autumn), is a major mid-autumn harvest festival and a three-day holiday in South Korea celebrated on the 15th day of the 8th month of the lunisolar calendar on the ...

special ''The Great Gift''. She also starred in her first Chinese drama, ''Heavenly Embroidery''.

2012–present

Han played the protagonist in the 2012 drama ''

May Queen In the British Isles and parts of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth, the May Queen or Queen of May is a personification of the May Day holiday of 1 May, and of Spring (season), springtime and the coming growing season. The May Queen is a ...

'', the success story of a woman in the shipbuilding industry during Korea's modernization. In 2013, she portrayed

dual role A dual role (also known as a double role) refers to one actor playing two roles in a single production. Dual roles (or a larger number of roles for an actor) may be deliberately written into a script, or may instead be a choice made during produc ...

s in ''

Pots of Gold ''Pots of Gold'' (; lit. ''I Summon You, Gold!'' or ''Gold, Appear!'') is a 2013 South Korean television series starring Han Ji-hye, Yeon Jung-hoon, Lee Tae-sung, Lee Soo-kyung, Baek Jin-hee, Park Seo-joon and Kim Hyung-jun. It aired on M ...

'' (also known as ''I Summon You, Gold!'' or ''Gold, Appear!''), a family comedy that explores money, love and marriage. This was followed by leading roles as a cold-hearted heiress in '' The Full Sun'', and as a wrongfully convicted prisoner turned baker in '' 4 Legendary Witches'' in 2014. In January 2016, Han signed with management agency

KeyEast KeyEast (; stylized in all caps) is a management agency founded by actor Bae Yong-joon. History In May 2009, KeyEast acquired Japanese company () () and made it an affiliated company. After the acquition by SM Entertainment, it was renamed Stre ...

. In 2018, she made a comeback in the family drama ''Shall We Live Together''.

Personal life

On September 21, 2010, Han married public

prosecutor A prosecutor is a legal representative of the prosecution in states with either the adversarial system, which is adopted in common law, or inquisitorial system, which is adopted in Civil law (legal system), civil law. The prosecution is the ...

Jung Hyuk-joon in a private ceremony in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

. On the December 31, 2020, Han announced on social media that she is expecting a child, due in Summer 2021. On June 23, 2021, Han's agency announced that had given birth to a daughter Jung Yoon-seul. Both her husband and daughter appeared on public television for the first time via Stars' Top Recipe at Fun-Staurant.

Filmography

Film

Television series

Music video

Discography

Book

Shoe line

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Han Ji-hye
at Content Y {{DEFAULTSORT:Han, Ji-hye South Korean film actresses South Korean television actresses South Korean female models Sejong University alumni Actresses from Gwangju 1984 births Living people