Kang Soo-yeon

Kang Soo-yeon (; August 18, 1966 – May 7, 2022) was a South Korean actress. An internationally acclaimed star from the mid-1980s to the end of the 1990s, she is often honorifically nicknamed as Korea's "first world star".

Kang began her acting career as a child actor and gained national recognition with ''A High School Student's Diary'' on KBS 1TV (1983–1984), and the comedy films ''Whale Hunting 2'' (1985) and ''Mimi and Cheolsu's Youth Sketch'' (1987). However, she would remain unknown outside her own country until her breakout role in Im Kwon-taek's '' The Surrogate Woman'' (1987). She won the Volpi Cup for Best Actress at the 44th Venice International Film Festival for her role, making her the first Korean actor to receive an award at a major international film festival. In 1989, she received the Bronze St. George as an actress at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival for '' Come Come Come Upward'' (1989), which further established her "world star" title.

From the early-2000s and onwards however, her output slowed significantly. Kang took years off between film appearances and switched to acting in the small screen—where she obtained moderate success for starring in ''Ladies of the Palace'' (2001–02) on SBS TV. Her last film that was released during her lifetime was ''Juri'' (2013). After a nine-year gap, she was set to return to film with a Netflix original ''Jung_E'', directed by Yeon Sang-ho. The film, which finished filming in January 2022, is slated for posthumous release later in the year.

After collapsing from cerebral hemorrhage at her home in southern Seoul on May 5, she was transported to hospital and stayed in the ICU for recovery. She never awoke from the coma and died on May 7, 2022.

Career

Kang began professionally acting as a child in 1969.

1970s–1991

The child actress Kang was in a number of low-profile movies and TV shows in the 1970s and 1980s.

Her career breakthrough was when she took on a lead role as the vulnerable teenager Ok-nyo in the Im Kwon-taek-directed movie, '' The Surrogate Woman''. For the film, she was honored with the Volpi Cup for Best Actress award at the 1987 Venice International Film Festival, as well as the Best Actress Award at the Nantes International Film Festival. The former achievement marked the first time a Korean actor, female or male, had been given an award at the major film festival. At the time, it was still considered shocking to many that South Korea even had an industry in film.koreanfilm.or
Brief profile
Retrieved on Nov 9, 2007

Two years later in March, '' Come Come Come Upward'', a Buddhist-themed movie that was also directed by Im, was released. In the film, Kang played the role of Sun-nyeo, a young student who sought refuge in the monastery to escape from her troubled home and study to become a nun, and later fell in love with the person who tried to take away her modesty. Kang did ''in fact'' get her head shaved onscreen in the scene when Sun-nyeo became a nun. She personally felt proud of her performance—later stating she felt her ego was insignificant to her portrayal and that it was "natural for un-nyeoto shave her head" due to the character's wish to be a nun. Consequently, she won the Bronze St. George at the 16th Moscow International Film Festival for her role in ''Come Come Come Upward'', establishing further credit as Korea's "world star".

In the same year, she was invited to serve as a juror in the Tokyo International Film Festival. In addition, she later became a member of the jury for the 17th Moscow International Film Festival in 1991.

1990s

In the 1990s, Kang appeared in a number of movies. The most notable of which are Jang Sun-woo's ''Road to the Racetrack'' (1991), ''That Woman, That Man'' (1993) by Kim Ui-seok, Lee Myung-se's film about adultery titled ''Their Last Love Affair'' (1996) and Im Sang-soo's debut '' Girls' Night Out'' (1998). ''Road to the Racetrack'' won her several accolades for Best Actress at award ceremonies: the Baeksang Arts Awards, Chunsa Film Art Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Awards. ''That Woman, That Man'' was a commercial success in the box office and she earned another Baeksang Arts Award for Most Popular Actress (her first being in 1990 for her performance in '' All That Falls Has Wings'').

By the end of the decade, she had acted in 32 movies. After ''Rainbow Trout'' was released in 1999, she cut down her work in movies and took to acting on television.koreanfilm.or
Awards List in excel spreadsheet
Retrieved on Nov 10, 2007 Kang was invited to be a juror in the 5th Pusan International Film Festival in the year 2000.

2000s

After a 15-year gap, Kang returned to television in 2001. Kang was given a starring role in ''Ladies of the Palace'' (), a historical drama that aired on SBS TV that year. The 150-episode series was successful, and it managed to garner her renewed visibility among mainstream audiences. Her performance as Jeong Nan-jeong enabled her to win a ''daesang'' awarded by the channel.china.tour2korea.co
Profile (Chinese)
Retrieved on Nov 10, 2007 After a brief hiatus from the movie scene, she made her comeback by playing the role of an attorney in ''The Circle''. Kang then appeared in two more movies: '' Hanbando'' in 2006, and ''With a Girl of Black Soil'' in 2007 respectively. ''Hanbando'' received largely negative reviews. In 2007, she continued her foray into mainstream TV by acting in the drama miniseries ''Moonhee'' on MBC TV. In ''Moonhee'', she played the role of a woman (Ha Moon-hee) who is forced to leave her child she had when she was only eighteen. Thus, the show seeks to portray the travails of Ha's life.

2010s and 2020s

Throughout the 2010s, she only appeared in two films. She reunited with director Im Kwon-taek for '' Hanji'' (2011).

In 2015, she became the co-director for the Busan International Film Festival. She left the board in 2017.

Death

At 5:48 p.m. ( KST) on May 5, 2022, Kang was found unconscious at her home in southern Seoul by first responders. They reported that she had suffered a cardiac arrest after collapsing from a cerebral hemorrhage. Immediately, she was transported to the local Gangnam Severance Hospital: there she was admitted to the ICU and comatose.

After receiving two days of medical treatment at the hospital, she died at 3 p.m. on May 7, 2022. She was cremated in the Seoul Memorial Park () and her ashes were buried at the Honor Stone () on May 11, 2022.

Reactions

Jeonju International Film Festival, which incidentally concluded on May 7, 2022, commemorated her legacy through social media, writing, "The Jeonju International Film Festival commemorates the passing of the late actress Kang Soo-yeon, who was a shining star of Korean cinema. I will not forget the legacy she left in the Korean film industry."

Filmography

Film

Television

Source:asiandb.co
Selected Filmography
Retrieved on Nov 9, 2007

Awards and nominations

State honors

Notes

See also

*List of Koreans
*Contemporary culture of South Korea
* List of South Korean actresses

References and notes

External links

* (in Korean)
*
*

Kang Soo-yeon's profile (Korean)
at epg.epg.co.kr

Kang Soo-yeon's filmography
at movies.nytimes.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kang, Soo-yeon
1966 births
2022 deaths
20th-century South Korean actresses
21st-century South Korean actresses
Actresses from Seoul
South Korean Buddhists
South Korean child actresses
South Korean film actresses
South Korean television actresses
Volpi Cup for Best Actress winners
Best Actress Paeksang Arts Award (film) winners