HoYeon Jung’s Overnight Rise to Fame: Why did we not know her sooner?

As the newly released K-Drama “Squid Game” takes the world by storm, one character caught our attention. It is the captivating actress behind Kang Sae-byeok, a North Korean defector who joins the game with the intention to win the money to reunite her family. She is played by one of Korea’s top models, now rising star, HoYeon Jung. With her phenomenal performance in the 9-episode series, it came to a shock for most people that this was her first acting gig. Her growth skyrocketed overnight. She was the talk of the town on

TikTok, being featured in videos mostly the ones to the song “MONEY” by Lisa. Her social media followers had also significantly increased. On Instagram, she only had about 400,000 followers, and as of September 28, she has 6.6 million followers.

Prior to Squid Game, Jung has been working as a full-time model, who has grown to be a prominent figure in the industry. She has graced many fashion shows globally and has been on a numerous amount of high-end fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar and Marie Claire. Additionally, she has collaborated with luxury brands like Chanel, Fendi and more. In fact, Vogue dubbed her to be the “Korea’s Next Top Model” as she made her first appearance on that show, claiming 3rd place overall. From an interview done by W Korea, she mentioned that she was at New York Fashion week when she was asked to send in a video audition for the show, which is also her very first time auditioning for something out of modelling.

“I remember how I spent all my time reading the script apart from when I ate food. I sent the video in, and the director contacted me, asking me to meet in person. So, I dropped everything and flew in right away,” she said.

Her first reaction after getting casted was to ask why and felt a bit of apprehension as it was going to be her first time acting.

“When my CEO told me I’d been casted, the first thing I said was, 'Why?' I was so happy when I heard the news, but it was like a greater fear had taken over me. [I was like] ‘Thank you very much, but I can do this?'"

She mentioned that one of the reasons on why she was able to play the part of Sae-byeok effectively is because she feels that they have been in the same position before, in terms of being alone when she had to leave Korea in order to take her modelling career to the next level by being international.

“I think I was able to accept Sae-byeok without any big difficulties because I am similar to her. In 2016, I left Korea to further my modelling career overseas, and I spent a lot of time alone. At the time, the emotion that I felt the most was 'loneliness'... That feeling of loneliness while trying to persevere and live isn’t all that different."

We are looking forward to more of the up-and-coming actress’s future projects, especially on how much more she will grow as both an actress and a model on the global stage.

Watch Hoyeon Jung’s jaw dropping skills in Squid Game available on the streaming platform Netflix!