{"id":655261,"date":"2026-10-23T23:48:18","date_gmt":"2026-10-23T23:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/655261\/"},"modified":"2026-10-23T23:48:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-23T23:48:18","slug":"jeon-do-yeons-career-led-to-possible-love-now-shes-an-oscar-player","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/655261\/","title":{"rendered":"Jeon Do-yeon’s Career Led to Possible Love. Now She’s an Oscar Player"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tLast year, the veteran Korean star Lee Byung-hun<\/a> enjoyed his first run on the American film awards<\/a> circuit, receiving a Golden Globe nomination for his tragicomic tour-de-force in Park Chan-wook\u2019s No Other Choice. He\u2019s now seeing the same thing happen to a frequent co-star of his from back home, in Jeon Do-yeon<\/a> \u2014 a local superstar who\u2019s stirring Oscar buzz as the lead of the rapturously reviewed Possible Love<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut before No Other Choice, Lee had already been widely known to American audiences via projects like Squid Game and the G.I. Joe movies. Jeon, by contrast, has rarely worked internationally. \u201cIn the Korean film industry, she holds a truly unique and unparalleled position,\u201d Lee Byung-hun says. \u201cI almost find myself wondering why it has taken the rest of the world so long to notice her.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPossible Love director Lee Chang-dong<\/a> echoes the sentiment: \u201cNo one could deny that she is the actress who represents an era in Korea. What is remarkable is that, despite so many achievements, she continues to show new possibilities as an actress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOver Zoom on a brisk morning back home in Korea, Jeon has just experienced a whirlwind of a month. Possible Love premiered to raves in Venice<\/a>, where it won the Grand Jury Prize; the director, Lee, and his cast then traveled to Toronto and New York for the first North American screenings of the movie. The Netflix<\/a> production, currently in select theaters and set to stream beginning Nov. 6, has cemented its status as one of the major international contenders of the Oscar season \u2014 with Jeon, backed by a 30-plus-year career of celebrated performances, emerging as a best-actress player despite a comparative lack of name recognition. Why? Because she\u2019s that good.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tPossible Love<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCourtesy of Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cNow that I\u2019m back in Korea, it feels like a dream,\u201d Jeon says of the excitement of Possible Love\u2019s global rollout. \u201cI almost ask myself: Did it all really happen?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tPossible Love takes a searingly intimate look at global labor and inequality crises through the lens of two couples: Mi-ok (Jeon) and Ho-seok (Sul Kyung-gu), struggling to get by after the latter was laid off, and the very wealthy Ye-ji (Cho Yeo-jeong) and Sang-woo (Zo In-sung). An indie filmmaker, Ye-ji is helming a documentary about Ho-seok and his former colleagues, many of whom remain traumatized by their treatment during a mass workers\u2019 strike; she begins interviewing Mi-ok, who is willing and able to go on camera and tell their painful family story, as others decline.<\/p>\n

\n\tIt is hard to imagine anyone else playing Mi-ok. Scene to scene, Jeon makes strikingly humane, unusual choices. Her portrayal is buoyant and curious, both attuned to and alienated from Mi-ok\u2019s hopes and desires, whether emotional or erotic or material. No facial expression or vocal inflection can be read simply; the performance is at its most heartbreaking when at its most joyful. Each person in Possible Love\u2019s nuanced foursome projects onto the rest, yet in Jeon\u2019s dogged empathy, it\u2019s Mi-ok who has set them on a dangerous collision course by the bravura final act.<\/p>\n

\n\tJeon felt \u201capprehensive\u201d about how audiences would react to her vision for the character, filled as it is with lifelike contradictions. But she approached Mi-ok as she\u2019s been approaching her craft her whole career: By investigating herself within the role. \u201cActing is always going to be this process of finding something within myself that I have, that I wasn\u2019t aware of before,\u201d she says. \u201cMi-ok is a very strong woman. The way she expresses herself, in that very positive way, is almost her method of maintaining her way of life \u2014 and I think I\u2019m pretty much the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tBorn in Seoul to an \u201cordinary\u201d family, the 53-year-old Jeon didn\u2019t think much about acting as she started out. She modeled in her 20s after graduating from Seoul Institute of the Arts \u2014 her first commercial was for an American company, Johnson & Johnson \u2014 and then began taking on smaller TV roles. \u201cI was able to maintain my stamina and strength because, if I had been too desperate or too bent on making something out of myself in the beginning days, I might have burned out [otherwise],\u201d she says. \u201cIt allowed me to not completely exhaust myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis included coming up against the pressures and limitations of her industry. Jeon didn\u2019t know at the time, for instance, that there was so much pushback to her feature-film debut in the romantic drama The Contact. \u201cThere was a very strong and clear line wherein the film industry tended to really look down on TV,\u201d she says. \u201cI did hear after some time had passed that many people were saying, \u2018You can\u2019t cast her because she\u2019s not a film actor.\u2019\u201d She won awards for that performance, though, and stuck around in movies \u2014 while also continuing to make TV. She wanted to work and followed the best opportunities, barely aware that she was breaking ground for actresses in the process.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cFilms were very quite heavily male-character focused, and so there weren\u2019t as many roles out there for me,\u201d she says. \u201cThe reality is that the range was quite narrow for actresses, especially at the time. I focused on choosing the best role that I could.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThis went against the industry standard. But Jeon developed a reputation for vivid performances that changed shape from project to project. \u201cThere are very few actors who can immerse themselves in a character as completely,\u201d says Lee Byung-hun, who first acted opposite her in the 1999 romance The Harmonium in My Memory. \u201cShe has an incredible natural instinct that allows her to fully embody a character without relying on excessive preparation or calculated choices. Rather than simply portraying someone, she becomes that person.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tMany of these roles saw Jeon summoning an intensity that surprised her only in retrospect. \u201cI was just so focused and concentrated on the role itself,\u201d she says. \u201cOnly after time had passed, and through interviews or through other people telling me, did I realize that I took on a number of very challenging roles at the time.\u201d In You Are My Sunshine, which won her first of two Grand Bell Awards (the Korean equivalent of an Oscar) for best actress, Jeon played a former sex worker who tests positive for HIV; 2007\u2019s Secret Sunshine, her first collaboration with Lee Chang-dong, soared off of her visceral take on a young mother going mad with grief.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn most of these cases, Jeon dug deeper into her own psyche. \u201cIt was almost as if I was on a journey, searching for new aspects of my own self,\u201d she says. When it came to Secret Sunshine, she felt adrift. She smiles and giggles as she remembers that period \u2014 one of many moments in our conversation where she channels the cheery spirit of her Possible Love character, Mi-ok, while reliving tough times.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI denied or rejected everything that I had to feel in character at the time \u2014 I was so full of doubt about everything that I was feeling, and then that process brought about such an intense level of anxiety and pain on my end,\u201d she says of Secret Sunshine. \u201cI was in such a struggle to survive, it was a very painful process. Only after I saw the final film I was able to know who this character really was \u2014 what kind of film Director Lee really wanted to make.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe work, of course, speaks for itself. Jeon recognizes now that her difficulty in accessing the troubled character aided in what was, undeniably, an artistic breakthrough.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cHow could a young actress who had never married, and certainly had no children, feel the emotions of a mother who has lost a child?\u201d Lee Chang-dong says. \u201cIt must have seemed absurd and baffling to her. Yet, remarkably, she did it. Every day she had to feel emotions that seemed impossible, and when she barely managed it, a harder and more painful emotion awaited her the next day.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJeon Do-yeon with Cannes\u2019 2007 Best Actress award for her role in Secret Sunshine.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tANNE-CHRISTINE POUJOULAT\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n

\n\t***<\/p>\n

\n\tSecret Sunshine\u2019s Cannes premiere marked Jeon\u2019s first trip to an international festival. The exposure that followed her triumph on the Croisette was overwhelming and, at times, counterintuitive. She had little experience in action fare, for instance, but started receiving American offers for action movies. \u201cI was getting to audition for smaller roles in these movies, and I was quite perplexed,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n

\n\tBack home, things were even stranger.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt had somehow made me a \u2018difficult actress,\u2019 so to speak, where within the industry people didn\u2019t feel like I was up for anything, or that I was approachable,\u201d Jeon says. \u201cMany people thought that after Cannes, my house would be filled with scripts and I would be bombarded with offers. But on the contrary, in fact, it was the time in my career where I had the least amount of offers and scripts coming in, and I struggled quite a bit. I had to accept that. I remember thinking, \u2018What do I do now? How do I free myself from the weight of the award?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHer first movie post-Secret Sunshine was My Dear Enemy, a moving slice-of-life following two ex-lovers driving around Seoul. \u201cWhile it was small, it was a great film,\u201d Jeon says. Yet press coverage around her involvement was brutal. As she sums it up: \u201cWhy would Jeon Do-yeon pick that one after she won in Cannes? Why did she choose such a small film?\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHer second movie post-Secret Sunshine was The Housemaid, a divisive revenge drama heavy on graphic nudity. Jeon gave birth just before filming commenced and felt concerned about what the movie would require of her. Yet true to her reputation, she threw herself into the material with a fearless performance, undeterred by how any audience member might react.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was an opportunity to accept a new part of myself as an actress \u2014 it wasn\u2019t just about my face as an actor. I am an actor from head to toe, and if needed, I should be ready,\u201d she says. \u201cIt liberated me in a way that I hadn\u2019t experienced before.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tBy this point, Jeon had played a number of rich, distinctive roles on screens big and small. Her choice to stay focused on expanding her filmography in Korea proved particularly bold given the realities for actresses in the industry as they aged out of ing\u00e9nue status. \u201cCompared to the United States, Korea is an even more conservative society \u2014 we are hypersensitive to age and looks, especially when it comes to actresses,\u201d she says. She has continued to break barriers by defying that conventional wisdom and pursuing ambitious work.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI am doing my part to expand that range on my own, and it may not be something that people are aware of,\u201d Jeon says. \u201cHowever, I know for sure that when it comes to myself, I try to always push the boundaries, always make sure that I break out of my own shell. That I reach for and expand my own horizons.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLee Chang-dong adds, \u201c[She] did not settle\u2026. She kept challenging and fighting as an actress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tLee Yeon with Jeon in the 2023 Netflix film Kill Boksoon.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNo Ju-han\/Netflix<\/p>\n

\n\tJust a few years ago, she starred in the rom-com series Crash Course in Romance, with Jung Kyung-ho, who is 10 years her junior, portraying her love interest. The local press was aghast: \u201cThere would be headlines all over the place with my age in it, or saying, \u2018Is it even possible for an actress of this age to be the lead of a rom-com drama series?\u2019\u201d she says. \u201cI didn\u2019t give it a second thought.\u201d Sure enough, the show was a smash hit, with Jeon\u2019s character\u2019s fashion even inspiring shopping trends. According to one retailer, the flower-patterned blouse she wears in the show led to increased sales of various retro pieces in the range of 60-90 percent.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe coverage then turned to headlines like: \u201cJeon Do-yeon did it again \u2014 despite her age!\u201d She says now with a smirk, \u201cI didn\u2019t feel like those were real compliments.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThen there is the case of Simon Stone\u2019s hit stage revival of The Cherry Orchard, with which Jeon has traveled from Hong Kong to Singapore to, earlier this fall, New York. The roving production starring a Korean cast has been a passion project for Stone, a revered theater director who\u2019s also the filmmaker behind another 2026 Oscar contender, Elsinore. Jeon\u2019s casting proved the key to the puzzle.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tJeon in The Cherry Orchard at Park Avenue Armory.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tStephanie Berger<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt was obvious we were going to need an extraordinary actress in the lead. I said to the team, \u2018Who\u2019s the Meryl Streep of Korea?\u2019 and their answer was Jeon Do-yeon,\u201d Stone says. \u201cScenes become hilarious that were just heartbreaking a moment before. There\u2019s a mercurial quality [to her] that is deeply intriguing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAll told, over decades, Jeon has built a defiant career in terms of both its consistency and versatility. And all of these experiences led to Possible Love, which Lee Chang-dong knew would feature her from the moment he had the initial seed of the idea, more than a decade ago. It\u2019s the kind of star turn that reveals its actor\u2019s history across every frame, the apex of a rivetingly complex life lived onscreen. <\/p>\n

\n\tShe has grown a great deal since her trials on Secret Sunshine, and with her Possible Love spouse, Sul Kyung-gu, again has years of working together to work opposite. \u201cWe\u2019re also very close friends in real life too, to the point where we feel safe to bring that actual energy to the screen,\u201d Sul says of his dynamic with Jeon in Possible Love. \u201cI was just so grateful to have her as my partner.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt 100 percent on Rotten Tomatoes as of release day, Possible Love has reached a level of acclaim that places Jeon into legitimate Oscar contention \u2014 another first for her. She has heard the chatter. She\u2019s seen the headlines at home speculating about her chances. And she is letting it all wash over her. \u201cThat has never been my goal,\u201d she says. \u201cThat has never been something that I coveted.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWorth noting, though: If the Academy recognizes her, Jeon would be the first person ever from South Korea to be nominated for best actress.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cIt is still very rare and difficult for an actor in a non-English-language film to be nominated for an Oscar, [and] I believe her performance, which brings such complex, layered emotions to life, can capture audiences\u2019 hearts across language barriers,\u201d Lee Chang-dong says. \u201cProper recognition from the Academy\u2026would be both a recognition of one actress\u2019s achievement and tangible evidence of the change the Academy is striving for.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRegardless of where it leads, Possible Love has felt like a kind of culmination point for Jeon \u2014 for a career that started out slow and unsure, and that has been continually defined by defying the odds. \u201cI have gained all that I had ever wanted to gain as an actress through Possible Love, and it has allowed me to really feel confident in the journey that I chose for myself,\u201d Jeon says. \u201cIt has given me a certain level of strength that I think will carry me through the upcoming years. I feel like I am going down the right path.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last year, the veteran Korean star Lee Byung-hun enjoyed his first run on the American film awards circuit,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":655262,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[1096,458,146,85,46,280819,21456,224653,400,3220,270361,11652],"class_list":["post-655261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-awards","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-jeon-do-yeon","tag-lee-byung-hun","tag-lee-chang-dong","tag-netflix","tag-oscars","tag-possible-love","tag-venice"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=655261"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/655261\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/655262"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=655261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=655261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=655261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}