Song Hye-kyo (born November 22, 1981; registered on February 26, 1982) is a South Korean model and actress. While getting her arts degree at Sejong University (did not finish degree), Song made her debut by winning the Grand Prize in model search in SunKyung Smart and starring in a Sunday morning drama called Happy Morning (KBS, 1996). She starred in number of hit dramas including All In, Autumn Fairy Tale, and Full House. Due to her popularity she can be seen frequently on advertisements when she is not acting. She is currently signed to the Sidus HQ label.
Song debuted in the entertainment industry when she won the Grand Prize in SunKyung Smart, a school uniform company in 1996 when she was finishing her third year in junior high school. It was not long until she starred in her first drama, Happy Morning. Since then, she would continued to star in a string of various dramas and sitcoms but it wasn't until the KBS drama Autumn Fairy Tale in 2000 with Song Seung-hun and Won Bin that Song rose to fame throughout Asia. The show quickly became popular as it depicted a tragic love story between three people.
Song's popularity continued to climb when she played a leading role in the poker drama All In, alongside Lee Byung-Hun. The drama was so popular that the title of the show itself entered everyday vocabulary in Korea. The two lead-actors were soon involved in a relationship off-camera which gave both of them heavy publicity. Rumours regarding their possible marriage circulated; the relationship, however, survived for less than a year.
Another big break for Song came when she played a major role in the very popular TV comedy series Full House in 2004. Another popular star Rain co-starred in the drama. They were rumored to be a couple, but they denied it and said they were just good friends. After the success of Full House, Song starred in the movie, My Girl And I, which was critically panned by audience and critics alike. Song went on a 2-year hiatus afterward, returning to acting to star in her second film, the movie-version of Hwang Jin-i, which was released in South Korea on June 6, 2007, as the kisaeng Hwang Jin-i. Though promoted heavily, it fared poorly at the box office.
View more picture after jump
