Uhm Ji Won

Biography

Uhm Ji-won (born December 25, 1977)is a South Korean actress.

Uhm Ji-won made her acting debut in the late 1990s, and after an early role in the Korean tokusatsu series Vectorman, went on to appear in a number of films and television drama series. In 2004, she appeared alongside Han Suk-kyu and Lee Eun-ju in The Scarlet Letter, receiving a nomination for Best Supporting Actress at the Blue Dragon Film Awards

In 2005, Uhm played a leading role in Hong Sang-soo's Tale of Cinema, and was praised for giving an "engaging, emotionally nuanced dual performance" as fictional actress Choi Young-shil. The film required her to perform her first nude scene, and she later remarked that, “After stripping in front of the camera, I felt that I could now take any role.”

Uhm starred alongside Yoo Ji-tae and Kim Ji-soo in the 2006 film Traces of Love, portraying a survivor of the 1995 Sampoong Department Store collapse who still suffers from psychological trauma years later. She prepared for the role by studying news and documentaries of the event, as well as reading through various psychology texts. Uhm was once again nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Blue Dragon Film Awards, and later won the same category at the Chunsa Film Art Awards.

After a cameo in director Kim Jee-woon's 2008 epic western The Good, the Bad, the Weird, and a leading role in another Hong Sang-soo art film Like You Know It All, she was cast in her first period film, Private Eye. Uhm returned to lighter fare in 2010 with the romantic comedy series The Woman Who Still Wants to Marry.

In 2011, Uhm appeared an episode of BBC World's The Third Eye, a documentary series that spotlights up-and-coming countries. The installment of the eight-part segment on Korea is interspersed with interviews with Uhm giving her opinions on Korean culture, domestic movies, and the Korean Wave. It also featured footage from her 2010 sex comedy movie Foxy Festival. Uhm, who was interviewed in Korea, was chosen in light of her impressive acting skills, natural charm, and English fluency, producers said.