Jun Ji Hyun

 

Jun Ji-hyun (born on 30 October 1981), also known by her English name Gianna Jun, is a South Korean actress and model. She has received multiple awards, including two Grand Bell Awards for Best Actress and a Daesang (Grand Prize) for Television at the Baeksang Art Awards.

Jun rose to fame for her role as The Girl in the romantic comedy My Sassy Girl (2001), one of the highest-grossing Korean comedies of all time. Other notable films include Il Mare (2000), Windstruck (2004), The Thieves (2012), The Berlin File (2013) and Assassination (2015). She also starred in television series My Love from the Star (2013–2014) and Legend of the Blue Sea (2016–2017).

 

Early Life

Jun was born in Seoul, South Korea. She has one older brother. Her mother and her mother's friends all encouraged her to be a model or actress due to her tall and slim body shape. Her childhood dream was to become a flight attendant, but later she gave up on this dream after a plane flight experience. At the age of 16, her high school friend who was a model introduced her to a photographer. Using the stage name Jun Ji-hyun, she began her career as a model for Ecole Magazine in 1997.

 

Personal Life

Jun married Choi Joon-hyuk on April 13, 2012 at Shilla Hotel in Jangchung-dong, central Seoul, with more than 600 guests, including celebrities, close friends and family attending the wedding. Choi, a banker, is the grandson of famed hanbok designer, Lee Young-hee and the son of fashion designer, Lee Jung-woo. Jun gave birth to the couple's first child, a boy, on February 10, 2016 and second son on January 26, 2018.

 

Career Beginning

1997–2005: Career beginnings and breakthrough

2006–2010: Hollywood debut

2012–present: Career resurgence and return to television

 

Jun, along with six other Korean stars (Jung Woo-sung, Kim Sun-a, Jo In-sung, Ji Jin-hee, Cha Tae-hyun and Yang Jin-woo), sued the monthly movie magazine Screen in 2006 for commercially using their pictures without permission. The Seoul Central District Court ruled in 2007 that the publisher must pay from ₩5 million to ₩15 million to each star for infringing on their publicity rights.

In 2009, police discovered that Jun's cell phone had been illegally cloned. Seoul Metropolitan Police arrested a private detective, identified as Kim, who testified that it was ordered by SidusHQ (Jun's then agency of 13 years), for which he was paid ₩6.4 million in cash by the brother of the agency's founder and then CEO Jung Hoon-tak. Police said Jun's management company used the cloned phone to keep tabs on her in an attempt to exert control over all aspects of her life. SidusHQ denied the allegations Jung Hoon-tak was later cleared after police could not find any concrete evidence of his direct involvement Kim was sentenced to one year in prison for invasion of privacy, Jung's brother received suspended jail terms. Because of the scandal, many expected her to leave once her contract expired, but she surprisingly extended her contract with SidusHQ for one more year. Then in 2011 she set up her own management agency J&Co. Entertainment, which was later renamed to Culture Depot.

In 2011, SidusHQ CEO Jung Hoon-tak was accused of illegally using Jun's bank account to pocket profits from a merger and acquisition. Jung allegedly made ₩200 million after purchasing a stake in the junior KOSDAQ-listed Stom E&F in 2009 with an account under Jun's name and announcing through a public filing several months later that he would buy Stom E&F. Jung and Stom E&F's former CEO Kwon Seung-shik were reported for gaining unfair profits by leaking information on the M&A beforehand. In an investigation by the Financial Supervisory Service, Jun testified that she was unaware of such an account existing under her name. Jung issued a denial.

 

Television Series

Year	Drama
1998	Fascinate My Heart
1999	Happy Together
2013 - 2014	My Love from the Star
2016 - 2017	Legend of the Blue Sea
2020	Kingdom
2021	Mount Jiri

 

Endorsements

Jun is one of the most in-demand celebrity endorsers in South Korea. In 2014, she earned an estimated ₩20 billion from advertising and endorsement fees. Market research in that same year showed that based on the value of real estate holdings, she ranked first among South Korean female celebrities, and fourth out of both male and female. In 2016, Jun earned ₩14 billion for the 14 commercials she has filmed, regaining her position at the top of advertisement rankings.

A lipstick she wore on My Love from the Star, YSL "Rouge Pur Couture No. 52" sold out worldwide, while the same coat she wore on the show caused a surge in sales of over 2,500 in ShesMiss stores in ten days