Ha Ji Won Biography

May 30, 2011 mharhianne16

Ji-won Ha, born as Hae-rim Jeon on June 28, 1979 in Seoul, South Korean, is a famous actress & singer. She came from a large family of six (including her parents, 2 sisters, and one brother). Ji-won Ha is the second youngest child in her family and her younger brother Tae-su Jeonis also an actor.

She started in the entertainment industry, after a talent agency offered to sign her to a contract. Ji-won Ha considered the offer with her mother and eventually agreed. The contract also required that Ji-won Ha go to college and major in theater. She also had to mime as a dolphin during auditions. In 1997, Ji-won Ha made her acting debut in the KBS drama “Sinsedaebogo 100hui Teukjib” and continued to act in small supporting roles for several more dramas. With 1999′s KBS series “School 2,” Ji-won started to gain the attention of drama fans.

In 2000, Ji-won Ha made her feature film acting debut in the film “Truth Game” playing the role of a fan club president. Her performance would garner Ji-won the best new actress award at the 2000 Grand Bell Awards. Two years later, Ji-won Ha would land the starring role in the box-office hit “Sex Is Zero,” a film that would sell 4.2 million tickets during its theatrical run.

For the following year in 2003, Ji-won Ha would take the starring role in the MBC drama “Damo: The Legendary Police Woman” – a unique action drama set in the Joseon Dynasty period. “Damo: The Legendary Police Woman” became so popular in Korea that a new expression “Damo Pain” (다모페인) was coined in reference to all the fans crazy about the drama series. Ji-won Ha would reveal later in a 2009 interview with KBS2 TV that her most cherished performance is “Damo: The Legendary Police Woman,” due to the fans she gained from that series and that performance opening the door for coveted future roles.

In 2003, Ji-won Ha would also release her first and so far only album to date “Home Run.”

Ji-won’s next performance in the 2004 SBS drama “Something Happened In Bali,” turned into another hit with the series revealing a surprise ending that became a hot topic for its audience. Over the next few years Ji-won Ha would appear in a succession of romantic-comedy films: “Reversal of Fortune,” “100 Days with Mr. Arrogant,”Love So Divine,” and “Daddy-Long-Legs.” Ji-won would also star in the popular 2006 KBS2 historical drama “Hwang Jin-yi,” which recorded a high 29% viewership rating.

Since that time, Ji-won Ha has branched off into various roles for feature films. She has also picked up the reputation for picking challenging roles, as she learned advanced aerobics for the film “Sex Is Zero,” Sunmudo (Korean martial arts) for the film “Duelist,” and boxing for the film “Miracle on 1st Street” (in which she filmed the boxing scenes herself).

In 2009, Ji-won will appear in the big budget disaster film “Haeundae” and the drama film “Closer to Heaven,” involving a romance between a man afflicted with Lou Gehrig’s Disease (played by Myeong-min Kim) and a funeral home employee (played by Ji-won Ha).

Entry Filed under: Ha Ji Won

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