Choi Ji-woo

Choi was born on June 11, 1975, in Paju, Gyeonggi Province, South Korea, in the family of Choi Woon-yong and Yoon Gil-ja. She has an elder brother.

She attended Busan Sooyoung Elementary Dukmoon Girl's High School. She then enrolled at Busan Women's College and majored in aerobic dance.

Later she joined the Department of Theater and Film in Hanyang University and completed her first year of study before dropping out of college to manage her busy work schedule.

Choi first got noticed in 1994 whenshe became the winner of an MBC organised talent audition. The following year she stepped into the world of acting with the MBC aired television series ‘War and Love’. Her later acting endeavours saw her being credited with the adopted stage name Choi Ji-woo.

She made her film debut with the September 21, 1996, released comedy drama ‘The Adventures of Mrs Park’. That year, she also featured in the hit South Korean romantic drama television series ‘First Love’.

She starred as Su-jinin the November 1, 1997, released South Korean film ‘The Hole’ that earned her Best New Actress (Film) award at the 34th Baeksang Arts Awards and Best New Actress award at the 21st Golden Cinematography Awards, both in 1998.

She then went on to perform in several other TV and film projects. These included the South Korean romantic comedy series ‘Mr. Duke’ (2000) that won her Excellence Award, Actress at the MBC Drama Awards; and flicks like ‘First Kiss’ (1998) and ‘Nowhere to Hide’ (1999).

Although a few years old in the field with a decent body of work and recognition, Choi garnered considerable attention and popularityas an actress only after playing tragic heroines in TV series, particularly in ‘Truth’ (2000) and ‘Beautiful Days’ (2001).The latter fetched her two SBS Drama Awards.