Shin Eun-kyung (born 15 February 1973) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her leading roles in ''
Downfall'' (1997) and ''
My Wife Is a Gangster'' (2001). Shin is most prominent Korean actress in the 1990s, alongside
Shim Eun-ha
Shim Eun-ha (; born September 23, 1972) is a retired South Korean actress. Shim rose to popularity in the 1990s, starring in some of the highest-rated Korean dramas of all time, such as ''The Last Match'', ''M'' and ''Trap of Youth''. But she is ...
,
Go So-young and
Jeon Do-yeon
Jeon Do-yeon (; born February 11, 1973) is a South Korean actress. She won Best Actress at the 60th Cannes Film Festival, making her the second Korean actress to win an acting award at a prestigious film festival, and Best Performance by an Ac ...
, whom she starred with on General Hospital.
Career
Shin began appearing in commercials in 1986 at the age of 13, and made her television debut in 1988 on
KBS. Throughout the late eighties and early nineties, she acted in a great number of films and
TV dramas
In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super-gen ...
(notably in the 2001
medical drama
A medical drama is a television show or film in which events center upon a hospital, an ambulance staff, or any medical environment. Most recent medical drama (film and television), dramatic programming go beyond the events pertaining to the chara ...
''General Hospital''), garnering fame for her warm screen presence. In 1997, however, she took on her most daring role as a prostitute in veteran director
Im Kwon-taek
Im Kwon-taek (born December 8, 1934) is one of South Korea's most renowned film directors. In an active and prolific career, his films have won many domestic and international film festival awards as well as considerable box-office success, and h ...
's ''
Downfall''. The film was a box-office success, leading her to star status.
In 1999, she starred in two films, including the Korean-Japanese co-produced horror film ''
The Ring Virus
''The Ring Virus'' () is a 1999 South Korean horror film adapted from the Japanese novel '' Ring'' by Koji Suzuki. A joint project between Japan and Korea, this version has Park Eun-Suh as the creator of the cursed videotape. Although the filmm ...
'', based on the novel by
Koji Suzuki
is a Japanese writer, who was born in Hamamatsu and lives in Tokyo. Suzuki is the author of the ''Ring'' novels, which have been adapted into other formats, including films, manga, TV series and video games. He has written several books on th ...
. Her success in this role led to her being cast in a small role for a Japanese film, ''
Uzumaki
is a Japanese horror manga series written and illustrated by Junji Ito. Appearing as a serial in the weekly ''seinen'' manga magazine ''Big Comic Spirits'' from 1998 to 1999, the chapters were compiled into three bound volumes by Shoga ...
'' (also known as ''Spiral''). Around this time, Shin was also working as an
MC for a television game show.
In 2002, Shin starred in her most famous role as a tough, female gang boss in ''
My Wife Is a Gangster''. The film drew more than 5 million spectators and became a strong hit throughout Asia. She also appeared in the sequel, ''
My Wife Is a Gangster 2
''My Wife is a Gangster 2: The Return Fable'' () is a 2003 South Korean film. It is the sequel to '' My Wife is a Gangster'' and is itself followed by ''My Wife Is a Gangster 3''.
Plot
In the beginning of the movie the Scissor gang are fighting ...
'', but the film faltered at the box office in 2003. Other roles Shin starred in around this time were as a detective in ''This Is Law'' (also known as ''Out of Justice''), as a professional matchmaker in the romantic comedy ''A Perfect Match'', and as a naval officer in the box office bomb ''
Blue
Blue is one of the three primary colours in the RYB colour model (traditional colour theory), as well as in the RGB (additive) colour model. It lies between violet and cyan on the spectrum of visible light. The eye perceives blue when obs ...
''.
Shin went on a short hiatus after she married and had a baby, and returned to acting in 2005, starring in films such as ''
Bystanders'' and ''Mr. Housewife'', and television series such as ''Bad Couple'', ''
Mom's Dead Upset
''Mom's Dead Upset'' (; also known as ''Angry Mom'' and ''Mom Has Grown Horns'') is a 2008 South Korean television series starring Kim Hye-ja, Lee Soon-jae, Baek Il-seob, Shin Eun-kyung, and Ryu Jin. It aired on KBS2 from February 2 to Septembe ...
'', ''
White Lie
A lie is an assertion that is believed to be false, typically used with the purpose of deceiving or misleading someone. The practice of communicating lies is called lying. A person who communicates a lie may be termed a liar. Lies can be int ...
'', ''
Still You'', and ''
The Scandal''. She gained praise for her impassioned portrayals of ruthless and ambitious women in the 2010 melodrama ''
Flames of Desire
''Flames of Desire'' (; lit. ''Flames of Ambition'') is a South Korean television series starring Shin Eun-kyung, Seo Woo, Yoo Seung-ho, Jo Min-ki, and Lee Soon-jae. It aired on MBC from October 2, 2010 to March 27, 2011 on Saturdays and Sunda ...
'' and the 2014 revenge thriller ''
The Plan''.
Other activities
Shin has been a professor at Seoul Hoseo Art College's Department of Performing Arts since 2011.
Personal life
On 22 September, 2003, Shin married Kim Jung-soo, who was then the
CEO
A chief executive officer (CEO), also known as a central executive officer (CEO), chief administrator officer (CAO) or just chief executive (CE), is one of a number of corporate executives charged with the management of an organization especially ...
of her talent agency Good Player Entertainment. The following year, she gave birth to a son, who was later diagnosed with
hydrocephalus
Hydrocephalus is a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs within the brain. This typically causes increased intracranial pressure, pressure inside the skull. Older people may have headaches, double vision, poor ...
.
On August 24, 2007, Shin filed for divorce when she learned that Kim had used her private
seal
Seal may refer to any of the following:
Common uses
* Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly:
** Earless seal, or "true seal"
** Fur seal
* Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...
without her permission to misappropriate () for his business after its merger with Fantom Entertainment and the box office failure of several films he'd produced. In November, Shin sued Kim for
forgery
Forgery is a white-collar crime that generally refers to the false making or material alteration of a legal instrument with the specific intent to defraud anyone (other than themself). Tampering with a certain legal instrument may be forbidd ...
of private documents. In a separate case, she was sued by KM Culture, the company from whom Kim had taken a loan which amounted to (). On December 28, 2008, the court ruled that Shin was not liable for her ex-husband's debts, stating that although Shin's seal is on the loan contract, Shin had not seen any of the money loaned, had not authorized her seal's use, and is therefore not responsible for the debt.
She again landed in the entertainment headlines in 2011 when she underwent
bimaxillary osteotomy surgery (or
jaw realignment surgery), reportedly because she felt making her strong jawline "slimmer and more rounded" would give her a "younger, softer, more feminine" look, which would result in more acting roles.
Shin later spoke candidly that she regretted having undergone the procedure for pure cosmetic purposes, saying the public should be better informed about the pain and danger associated with the invasive surgery. In 2012, she sued an oriental medicine clinic for violating her
portrait rights and privacy after it posted false ads on the internet without her permission, featuring her photo and treatment process; she had gone to the clinic to decrease the swelling of her face, a side effect of her jaw reconstruction surgery, but the clinic's treatments proved ineffective. The court ruled in Shin's favor and awarded her damages amounting to .
Filmography
Film
Television series
Variety show
Music video
Awards and nominations
References
External links
Shin Eun-kyungat Run Entertainment
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shin, Eun-kyung
South Korean film actresses
South Korean television actresses
Dankook University alumni
People from Busan
1973 births
Living people