Bae Doona stars in Netflix K-dramas The Silent Sea and Kingdom, smash movies Cloud Atlas and Sympathy For Mr Vengeance – 5 ways to celebrate Korea’s OG superstar actress

Oct 12 , 2020

Bae Doona has starred in popular K-dramas such as Stranger and Kingdom. Photo: @baedoonapics @doonabae/Instagram

She starred in cult Korean movies like Bong Joon-ho’s The Host and Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, is luxury fashion brand Louis Vuitton’s muse, was the first Korean model to appear on the cover of US Vogue and her upcoming K-drama role is alongside Gong Yoo and Lee Joon – happy birthday, Bae Doona!

You might recognise Bae Doona – who turned 41 on October 11 – from one of the many hit Netflix K-drama series she’s starred in like Stranger and Kingdom. Her latest role is in upcoming Jung Woo-sung-produced sci-fi mystery thriller The Silent Sea alongside fellow stars Gong Yoo and Lee Joon.

But her career is about more than just K-drama. She’s acted in famous Korean movies like Bong Joon-ho’s The Host and Park Chan-wook’s Sympathy For Mr Vengeance, as well as Hollywood films like Cloud Atlas. She also started out as a fashion model.

We celebrate her birthday with the best out of her many accomplishments.

Her debut as a magazine model

The 1990s were the days of fashion magazines in South Korea, producing many stars such as Kim Min-hee, Im Soo-jung and, of course, Bae herself. In 1998, Bae was scouted as a university student and made her first appearance as a model.

Even after rising to international fame with her film performances, she was recently the first Korean model to appear on the cover of US Vogue for its April 2019 issue alongside Scarlett Johansson and Bollywood feminist warrior Deepika Padukone.

Her work with Bong Joon-ho

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