Sung Hyun-ah (born July 23, 1975) is a South Korean

actress An actor or actress is a person who portrays a character in a performance. The actor performs "in the flesh" in the traditional medium of the theatre or in modern media such as film, radio, and television. The analogous Greek term is (), lit ...

and former

Miss Korea Miss Korea ( ko, 미스코리아) is a national beauty pageant in South Korea. Lee Seung-hyeon won the title on October 26, 2022. History The first Miss Korea competition took place in 1957 and was sponsored by the Korean newspaper Hankook I ...

Biography

Sung Hyun-ah placed second runner-up (or third place) at the

pageant in 1994. She was the country's representative at the 1994

Miss International Miss International (''Miss International Beauty'' or ''The International Beauty Pageant'') is a Japan-based international beauty pageant organized by the International Culture Association. First held in 1960, it is the fourth largest pageant i ...

pageant, where she was a semi-finalist and won Miss Photogenic. Sung made her acting debut in ''

Salut D'Amour ''Salut d'Amour'' (''Liebesgruß''), Op. 12, is a musical work composed by Edward Elgar in 1888, originally written for violin and piano. History Elgar finished the piece in July 1888, when he was romantically involved with Caroline Alice Ro ...

'', and continued to appear in

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 ...

such as ''See and See Again'' (also known as ''Can't Take My Eyes Off You''), ''Should My Tears Show'', '' Hur Jun'', ''One Day Suddenly'', ''

Bad Woman, Good Woman ''Bad Woman, Good Woman'' () is a 2007 South Korean television series starring Choi Jin-sil, Lee Jae-ryong, Sung Hyun-ah, and Jeon No-min. It aired on Mondays to Fridays at 19:45 on MBC from January 1 to July 13, 2007 for 140 episodes. The da ...

'', '' Yi San'', and ''

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 Sund ...

''. She also released an EP in 2004 titled ''Turn It Up'' under the name A.One. But Sung became best known for her strong, sexy roles in films such as

Hong Sang-soo Hong Sang-soo (홍상수, born 25 October 1960) is a South Korean film director and screenwriter. Early life Hong's parents owned the film production company Cinetel Soul. Hong took the entrance exam and entered the theater department at Chun ...

's ''

Woman is the Future of Man ''Woman Is the Future of Man'' () is a 2004 South Korean film directed by Hong Sang-soo. The film was not a box-office hit, but was entered in the competition category of the 2004 Cannes Film Festival and received screenings at several other festiv ...

'', Kim Tae-eun's ''The Intimate'', and

Kim Ki-duk Kim Ki-duk ( ; 20 December 196011 December 2020) was a South Korean film director and screenwriter, noted for his idiosyncratic art-house cinematic works. His films have received many distinctions in the festival circuit, rendering him one o ...

's ''

Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, t ...

''. She also appeared in ''

The Scarlet Letter ''The Scarlet Letter: A Romance'' is a work of historical fiction by American author Nathaniel Hawthorne, published in 1850. Set in the Puritan Massachusetts Bay Colony during the years 1642 to 1649, the novel tells the story of Hester Prynne, w ...

'' and ''

The Customer Is Always Right __NOTOC__ "The customer is always right" is a motto or slogan which exhorts service staff to give a high priority to customer satisfaction. It was popularised by pioneering and successful retailers such as Harry Gordon Selfridge, John Wanamake ...

''. In 2007 Sung won the Best Actress award from the Malaga International Fantastic Film Festival in Spain, for her role in the

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, ap ...

Cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, ...

''. No stranger to controversy, Sung was caught for using the drug ecstasy in 2002, and previously published a book containing nude photographs of herself. In 2006, a dispute broke out between Sung and the producers of the movie ''The Intimate'' when she protested against their

marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to empha ...

strategy Strategy (from Greek στρατηγία ''stratēgia'', "art of troop leader; office of general, command, generalship") is a general plan to achieve one or more long-term or overall goals under conditions of uncertainty. In the sense of the " ar ...

to emphasize only the

nude scenes In film, nudity may be either graphic or suggestive, such as when a person appears to be naked but is covered by a sheet. Since the birth of film, depictions of any form of sexuality have been controversial, and in the case of most nude scenes ...

. Sung said, "I filmed the nude scenes to make a good movie. I can't bear to see that such scenes are being used as tools for promotion. I am not an actress who undresses and tumbles about for no reason." She declared that from then on, she would avoid nude scenes altogether. She married businessman Heo Eun-gyo on December 9, 2007 at the Paradise Hotel in

Busan Busan (), officially known as is South Korea's most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.4 million inhabitants. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economic, cultural and educational center of southeastern South Korea, ...

. After she and Heo divorced in 2010, Sung remarried three months later and gave birth to a son in 2012. In December 2013, Sung was indicted on charges of

prostitution Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...

, for allegedly receiving from a businessman surnamed Chae with whom she met up three times for sexual intercourse in 2010. She countersued to prove her innocence. In August 2014, the court dismissed Sung's request for a full trial and ruled that she was guilty of prostitution; she was sentenced to a fine of (). But, February 18 2016, the Supreme Court ruled that she was innocent of prostitution charges, overturning the lower court's decision.

Filmography

Film

*''

'' (2006) *''The Customer Is Always Right'' (2006) *''The Intimate'' (2005) *''

'' (2005) *''

'' (2004) *''

'' (2004) *''Live or Die'' (2003) *''Boss X-File'' (2002) *''Hallelujah'' (1997)

Television drama

*" Wave, Wave" (KBS, 2018) *''

'' (MBC, 2010-2011) *''

Ja Myung Go ''Ja Myung Go'' (; also known as ''Princess Ja-myung'') is a 2009 South Korean television series starring Jung Ryeo-won, Park Min-young and Jung Kyung-ho. It aired on SBS from March 9 to July 21, 2009 on Mondays and Tuesdays at 21:55 ( KST) fo ...

'' (SBS, 2009) *'' Yi San'' (MBC, 2007–2008) *''

'' (MBC, 2007) *''One Day Suddenly'' (SBS, 2006) *''Open Drama Man and Woman'' "I'm Mr. Heidi and Married" (SBS, 2001) *''Twins'' (KBS, 2001) *''Lipstick'' (iTV, 2001) *''MBC Best Theater'' "Train Heading to Kaikoura" (MBC, 2000) *''Because of You'' (MBC, 2000) *'' Hur Jun'' (MBC, 1999-2000) *''Should My Tears Show'' (MBC, 1999) *''Crystal'' (SBS, 1999) *''Advocate'' (MBC, 1998) *''See and See Again'' (MBC, 1998-1999) *''Kim Chang-wan's Three Stories'' (KBS, 1998) *''Devotion'' (KBS, 1997) *''70-Minute Dramas'' "가방을 든 남자" (SBS, 1997) *''18 Years of Growing Up'' (SBS, 1996) *''Exploration of Man'' (SBS, 1996) *''LA Arirang'' (SBS, 1995-1996) *''MBC Best Theater'' "Adelaide" (MBC, 1995) *''

'' (KBS2, 1994)

Variety show

*''Scandal 2.0'' (tvN, 2009) *''Catch-One's World of Film'' (Catch-One, 1999) *진상을 찾아라 (HBS, 1997) *세상체험, 온몸을 던져라 (SBS, 1997) *행운의 일요특급 (KBS, 1995) *명사 가요초대석 (MBC, 1995)

Discography

Awards

*2007 10th Malaga International Fantastic Film Festival: Best Actress (''

'') * 1994 34th

Pageant: Miss Photogenic *1994 38th

Pageant: 2nd Runner-up

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sung, Hyun-ah 1975 births South Korean film actresses South Korean television actresses Miss International 1994 delegates Living people Miss Korea delegates South Korean criminals People acquitted of crimes