1. Choi Jin-sil was considered one of the greatest actresses in South Korea, nicknamed "The Nation's Actress" for playing leading roles in some of the highest-rated Korean dramas of all time such as Jealousy, Season of Storms, Star in My Heart, You and I and My Rosy Life.
Choi Jin-sil played leading roles in 18 films and 20 television dramas, appeared in hundreds of advertisements, and won several awards.
Choi Jin-sil was 39 when she died by suicide by hanging on October 2,2008, at her home in Seoul after being the victim of distressing rumours.
Choi Jin-sil's mother separated from her father in 1985 and divorced him in 1998.
Choi Jin-sil had a younger brother, Choi Jin-young, who was an actor and singer, and two elder half-brothers, brought in by her father from a previous relationship.
Choi Jin-sil attended Dongmyeong Girls' Middle School while actress Kang Soo-yeon attended Dongmyeong Girls' High School, and both schools are located within the same fence.
Choi Jin-sil admired Kang, who started her career as a child actress in the 1970s.
Choi Jin-sil used to secretly watch the actress outside her class and even sat in her seat when no one else was in the room.
Choi Jin-sil showed aptitude for physical education and was especially talented in art, winning various competitions, and her teacher encouraged her to go to art school.
Choi Jin-sil's family was so poor that her mother once managed the household by running a pojangmacha when her father ran away from home.
Choi Jin-sil gave up going to art school and it was only through her blind "going to school," and the support of friends and teachers that she was able to graduate from high school.
Choi Jin-sil dreamed of becoming a star to escape poverty.
Choi Jin-sil said in talk shows her nickname during her school days was "Choisujebi" because she used to eat sujebi instead of ordinary meals due to the home environment.
Choi Jin-sil's brother, who was a senior in high school, had been working as an advertising model since his first year.
Choi Jin-sil personally took her portfolio pictures and visited modeling agencies with her.
Choi Jin-sil began to gain celebrity status in an advertising campaign for Samsung Electronics in which she acted as a newly wedded housewife.
Choi Jin-sil's appearance caused great reactions not only among the public, but in the advertising and entertainment industries.
The "Choi Jin-sil Syndrome" was called a cultural phenomenon and casting offers poured in.
Choi Jin-sil drew attention for her spunky role in the youth drama Two Diaries where she co-starred with Chae Shi-ra in the second installment.
Choi Jin-sil's films succeeded in the box office, catapulting Choi to the top within two years of her debut.
Choi Jin-sil was described as 'Chungmuro's money-making machine'; 'the Choi Jin-sil Syndrome, the duck that lays golden eggs'.
Choi Jin-sil expanded her solidified image of a youth star into more diverse and challenging roles as in the film The Room in the Forest where she played the role of a struggling student activist who eventually commits suicide.
In November 1991, Choi Jin-sil became the second celebrity to appear in the MBC documentary The Human Era after national actor Ahn Sung-ki.
Choi Jin-sil naturally portrayed the bright, cheerful, yet sharp Ha-kyung, becoming a symbol of the new generation of working women.
Choi Jin-sil starred in a string of successful dramas and films in the following years, such as the film Mister Mama with Choi Min-soo, the MBC melodrama Season of Storms and the comedy film How to Top My Wife.
In 1994, Choi Jin-sil starred in the film I Wish for What Is Forbidden to Me, which dealt with gender violence and opened a new chapter in the history of Korean feminist films.
Choi Jin-sil sought to transform her acting by appearing in socially weighty works and even invested her appearance fee on the film's production costs, as a response to the mounting crisis in Korean cinema concerning underfunded projects.
Choi Jin-sil's participation as the lead actress and producer was said to be due to her close relationship with the producers and director, as well as her strong attachment to the role of the main character, Kang Min-ju, who is a villain protagonist.
Choi Jin-sil co-starred with Lee Byung-hun in the SBS drama Scent of Love which recorded high viewership ratings.
Choi Jin-sil won consecutive Top Excellence Awards at the SBS Drama Awards for the two years that she spent at the broadcasting network.
Choi Jin-sil was later reunited with Lee Byung-hun in the 1995 romantic comedy film Who Drives Me Crazy and the SBS action drama Asphalt Man, which was one of the major productions of its time.
Choi Jin-sil had a desire to learn acting systematically, starting with breathing and vocalization.
The film's success led to a flurry of commercials and articles saying, "Choi Jin-sil has hit her second peak".
Around the same time, Choi Jin-sil was offered a role in the experimental film Holiday in Seoul by director Kang Woo-seok, who was the producer of the film.
The role of the decadent hotel telephone operator played by Choi Jin-sil was originally intended for actress Kim Nam-joo, but when she dropped out due to a disagreement with the film company, Kang asked Choi Jin-sil, who had always been close to him, to play the role.
Choi Jin-sil broke her exclusive contract with SBS when she accepted the lead role in the MBC drama Star in My Heart.
Choi Jin-sil was cast in the film in April 1997, when Star in My Heart was just getting off the ground.
Choi Jin-sil was recognized for her acting skills as she steadily led the center of the drama for 58 episodes.
Choi Jin-sil won the Grand Prize at the 1997 MBC Drama Awards at the end of the year for her starring performances in a trendy drama and a weekend soap opera.
In 1998, Choi Jin-sil published an autobiography Yes, Let's Live Truthfully Today Too, looking back at the change from an ordinary high school graduate to a famous actress.
Choi Jin-sil had great desire for experimental films, and wanted to work with new directors.
In 2002, Choi Jin-sil played the role of Lee Ok-hwa, a trading company employee in MBC's Since We Met, her first work since marriage.
Choi Jin-sil was coached by her friend Jeong Sun-hee to learn how to speak realistic Yanbian dialect, which led to them filming commercials together.
Choi Jin-sil largely stayed out of the limelight, raising her two children during her high-profile divorce saga from 2002 to 2004.
Choi Jin-sil reinvented herself as a more approachable middle-aged married woman, gaining six kilograms for the role.
Choi Jin-sil ranked first among all genders and age groups in the 'Talent that Shined this Year' survey by Gallup Korea.
Choi Jin-sil was an MC in a talk show, Choi Jin-sil 'Truth and Lie' in 2008.
Not only did Choi Jin-sil receive the best treatment in the industry with a higher per-episode appearance fee than Yoo Jae-suk, but she received the highest level of program publicity.
Choi Jin-sil's swift rise to stardom coincided with the dramatic changes in South Korea's political, economic, social, and cultural landscape.
Samsung Electronics used the 1988 Seoul Olympics to boost the popularity of color TVs, and Choi Jin-sil helped the company beat out its competitors to the top spot in home appliance sales, appearing in commercials for most of their products.
Choi Jin-sil believed that commercials, even as 30-second videos, have an aesthetic that captures the spirit of the times, and that they are an integration of artistic activities; from basic visual arts, marketing techniques and image-making that borrowed from psychology, to the brilliant slogans and dialogue.
TV, Choi Jin-sil said that she considers her commercials as part of her work as an actress.
Choi Jin-sil maintained a relationship with KT and Samsung throughout the 1990s and 2000s, and was a contributor for the latter's increase in market share.
In October 1992, Choi Jin-sil became the first celebrity to throw out the first pitch in the KBO League Korean Series.
Choi Jin-sil consistently topped consumer preference surveys and is the most-loved advertising model of her time.
President Kim Young-sam topped the list and Choi Jin-sil was number two, at a time when the president's popularity was soaring due to the crackdown on bribery and the disclosure of public officials' assets.
Choi Jin-sil became the face of the real-name financial system the following year in 1994 and was invited by President Kim to a luncheon at the Blue House.
Choi Jin-sil spent the next two years appearing in SBS dramas such as Scent of Love, Asphalt Man, and Jazz, helping raise the profile of the network.
Choi Jin-sil's appearance in Apartment was an indication of her status, in that MBC brought back an SBS-exclusive actress despite the fact that she had left MBC, and in that SBS was willing to allow her to appear on another network, even though she still had an exclusive contract with SBS.
The party selected Choi Jin-sil to be the face of its newspaper advertisements in an effort to break down the rigid public image of existing political parties and make them more approachable to the people.
Choi Jin-sil was selected as the movie star with the best audience mobilization power along with actor Choi Jin-sil Min-soo.
Choi Jin-sil ranked first overall in the talent and actor category for all age groups combined, beating out the most popular actors of the past and of her time.
Choi Jin-sil was recorded as the most prolific actor with lead roles in six TV dramas, including Promise, Jealousy, Season of Storms, You and I, Star in My Heart, and Roses and Bean Sprouts.
In 2005, Choi Jin-sil was voted as the most popular talent among men and women according to a survey by Gallup Korea.
Choi Jin-sil received the full support of female viewers in their 20s and 40s.
Choi Jin-sil was voted the number one female protagonist, with netizens giving her the nickname "Eternal Cinderella" for her starring role in Star in My Heart.
Choi Jin-sil went through many hardships, including poverty, fires, traffic accidents, kidnappings, assaults, robberies, stalking, and the spread of false information that persisted for 20 years.
Choi Jin-sil gave birth to a son Hwan-hee and a daughter Jun-hee.
Cho insisted that Choi Jin-sil was a blameful spouse through the press without filing a lawsuit for divorce in December 2002.
Choi Jin-sil privately had the consideration period in connection with divorce for about two years from 2002 to 2004.
In November 2002, Cho physically attacked Choi Jin-sil, who was pregnant at the time with their second child.
Choi Jin-sil won the parental rights and child custody over the children on condition of exempting Cho's debt to her mother and brother as well as dropping several charges against Cho.
In handing down its ruling, the Supreme Court censured Choi Jin-sil for coming forward and declaring herself a victim of domestic violence, saying it constituted a failure to maintain proper "social and moral honor".
Choi Jin-sil was found hanged at her home in Seoul; the cause of death was deemed to be suicide.
Police said that Choi Jin-sil had killed herself at around midnight.
Choi Jin-sil was survived by her two children, her mother and younger brother Choi Jin-young, who died by suicide a year and a half later, reportedly due to being severely affected by her demise.
Choi Jin-sil suffered great stress amid rumors circulating on the Internet that she was involved in the suicide of fellow actor Ahn Jae-Hwan.
Jeong and Choi Jin-sil had been close friends for a long time; at his funeral Choi Jin-sil appeared deeply shaken.
On September 22,2008, Choi Jin-sil sought a police probe into the source of the rumours, calling them groundless.
Major portal websites blocked online users from leaving comments on articles concerning Choi Jin-sil, fearing that some users might leave malicious comments.
For nearly 20 years, Choi Jin-sil was the country's cinematic sweetheart and as close to being a 'national' actress as possible.
Choi Jin-sil's suicide has gripped the nation, dominating headlines as authorities, relatives and even the government try to determine what went wrong.
The gravesite was purchased by the Gangnam Joongang Baptist Church, which Choi Jin-sil attended during her lifetime.
Choi Jin-sil was the first celebrity and church member to be buried in the cemetery.
Choi Jin-sil's tomb was remodeled to its current form to coincide with the first anniversary of her death.
The charnel was replaced with a cylindrical pillar, which was topped by a sculpture with Choi Jin-sil's face engraved on it.
On September 29,2009, Choi Jin-sil's ashes were reinterred at Gapsan Park.
The drama synopsis As Life Goes On which Choi Jin-sil had written was found in her home after her death.