Song Hye-kyo gained international popularity through her leading roles in the television dramas Autumn in My Heart, All In, Full House, That Winter, the Wind Blows, Descendants of the Sun, Encounter and The Glory.
31 Facts About Song Hye-kyo
2.
In 2017, Song Hye-kyo ranked 7th in Forbes magazine's Korea Power Celebrity list, and 6th in 2018.
3.
When Song Hye-kyo was born, she was so ill that her parents and doctors thought that she would not survive.
4.
Song Hye-kyo's parents divorced when she was a young girl, after which she was raised by her mother.
5.
Song Hye-kyo would continue to appear in a string of dramas and sitcoms, most notably Soonpoong Clinic.
6.
The romantic melodrama series was a ratings success, pioneering a trend in Korean melodramatic series and launching a trend that is commonly referred to as the "Korean Wave" and leading to Song Hye-kyo becoming a Hallyu star.
7.
Early 2005, Song Hye-kyo went to San Francisco to study English, and later traveled to Seattle.
8.
Song Hye-kyo took time off to recharge herself after the successful Asia drama Full House.
9.
Vocal about her dissatisfaction with typecasting in the roles she was being offered, Song Hye-kyo proved in the following year that she could play different roles.
10.
Song Hye-kyo returned to the big screen in 2007 as the titular gisaeng in the film adaptation of Hwang Jin Yi.
11.
Song Hye-kyo made her TV comeback in late 2008 with The World That They Live In, a series set at a broadcast station in which Song and Hyun Bin played drama PDs who work together and fall in love.
12.
Song Hye-kyo next played a documentary filmmaker who finds the strength to forgive the seventeen-year-old boy who killed her fiance but instead of redemption finds only greater tragedy in A Reason to Live, which after several delays was released in October 2011.
13.
Song Hye-kyo was a huge fan of director Lee Jeong-hyang and had actively sought her out, and though she had difficulty getting into character, Song Hye-kyo said she fell in love with the script and felt her acting had matured.
14.
Song Hye-kyo considers the film "a turning point" in her life.
15.
Song Hye-kyo released a photo-essay book in 2012 titled It's Time for Hye-kyo.
16.
Song Hye-kyo next played a supporting role in The Grandmaster, Chinese director Wong Kar-wai's biographical film about Bruce Lee's kung fu master Ip Man, for which she learned Cantonese and martial arts.
17.
Song Hye-kyo later admitted there had been "a bit of friction and misunderstanding" with Wong while filming, but that the difficulties helped her mature.
18.
Song Hye-kyo reunited with the writer and director of Worlds Within in That Winter, the Wind Blows, a 2013 remake of 2002 Japanese drama Ai Nante Irane Yo, Natsu.
19.
Song Hye-kyo played a blind heiress in the melodrama, opposite a con man pretending to be her long-lost brother.
20.
Song Hye-kyo won the Daesang, the highest award for television, at the 2nd APAN Star Awards.
21.
In 2014, Song Hye-kyo reunited with Kang Dong-won in My Brilliant Life, E J-yong's film adaptation of Kim Aeran's bestselling novel My Palpitating Life about a couple who watched their son suffering from progeria grow prematurely old.
22.
Woo's recovery from tonsil tumor removal in 2012 led to another delay due to scheduling conflicts among the cast, and Song Hye-kyo finally began filming in June 2013.
23.
In 2016, Song Hye-kyo starred in the mega-hit romantic comedy series Descendants of the Sun, an intense drama about an army captain and a surgeon who fall in love while working in disaster-torn areas.
24.
Song Hye-kyo topped popularity polls in Asia and was noted for her immense brand recognition in South Korea.
25.
Song Hye-kyo won Daesang, the highest award at the 2016 KBS Drama Awards along with her co-star, Song Hye-kyo Joong-ki.
26.
In 2021, Song Hye-kyo starred in SBS romantic drama Now, We Are Breaking Up, playing a team leader of design department of a fashion company.
27.
In 2022, Song Hye-kyo reunited with Descendants of the Sun writer Kim Eun-sook in the Netflix series The Glory.
28.
In October 2013, Song Hye-kyo donated 1,000 tickets to the Busan International Film Festival for the underprivileged young people in the Busan area.
29.
In July 2014, Song Hye-kyo purchased 800 tickets for The Seoul International Women's Film Festival and donated them to the Korean Psychological Association and the Magdalena Community.
30.
In December 2016, Song Hye-kyo made a donation to the Beautiful Foundation, to be used for educational support projects for low-income students who dream of becoming design experts.
31.
In July 2017, Song Hye-kyo donated 100 million won to Seoul National University Children's Hospital.