Asian Actors

As of her debut in South Korean films, Ye-jin Son became one of the stars of Chungmoore, the Korean Hollywood, notably appearing in the beautiful "Drunk on Women and Poetry" by the master Kwan-taek Im. In "April Snow", directed by Jin-ho Hur (2005), she questioned her pure innocent girl image, playing to perfection an ordinary housewife confronted to tragedy and to an unexpected love story.

Kong Hyo-jin was born on 4 April 1980 in Seoul, South Korea. She is an actress, known for Crush and Blush (2008), Missing Woman (2016) and The Greatest Love (2011).

Kim Sa-rang was born on 12 January 1978 in South Korea. She is an actress, known for My Love Eun Dong (2015), Hot for Teacher (2006) and Namja taeunada (2002).

Park So-dam was born on 8 September 1991 in South Korea. She is an actress, known for Parasite (2019), The Priests (2015) and The Silenced (2015).

Jeon Soo-jin was born on 8 November 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. She is an actress, known for Descendants of the Sun (2016), Voice (2017) and Mystery Queen (2017).

Lee Ji-Eun, also known by her stage name IU, is a South Korean singer-songwriter, composer, and actress. She signed with LOEN Entertainment (now Kakao Entertainment) in 2007 as a trainee and debuted as a singer at the age of fifteen with her first extended play (EP) Lost and Found (2008). Although her follow-up albums, Growing Up and IU...IM brought mainstream success, it was only after the release of "Good Day", the lead single from her 2010 album Real, that she achieved national stardom. "Good Day" went on to spend five consecutive weeks at the top of South Korea's Gaon Digital Chart, and in 2019, it was ranked number one on Billboard's "100 Greatest K-Pop Songs of the 2010s" list.

With the success of her 2011 albums, Real+ and Last Fantasy, IU established herself as a formidable force on the music charts of her native country and further cemented her girl next door image as Korea's "little sister". 2011 also saw her first foray into songwriting with "Hold My Hand", which was written for the television series The Greatest Love. IU's third studio album, Modern Times (2013), showcased a more mature musical style that marked a departure from her earlier girlish image, with several tracks reaching the top 10 on the Gaon Digital Chart. The album was ranked number two on Billboard's "25 Greatest K-Pop Albums of the 2010s" list. IU subsequently exerted more creative control over her music; Chat-Shire marked the first time she was credited as the sole lyricist of her own album. IU's fourth studio album, Palette (2017), became her first to reach number one on Billboard's World Albums chart. While her following records Love Poem and Lilac continued to deviate from mainstream K-pop styles, exploring and mixing various music genres, IU consistently retained her dominance on South Korean music charts. Her 2020 single "Eight" became her first to reach number one on the Billboard World Digital Song Sales chart.

Aside from her music career, IU has ventured into acting and hosting radio and television shows. Following her supporting role in the teen drama Dream High (2011) and minor appearances in several television series, she was cast in leading roles in the television drama series You Are the Best! (2013), Pretty Man (2013-14), The Producers (2015), and Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016). IU's role as a desperate office worker in My Mister (2018) received critical acclaim, and she earned her first Best Actress in Television nomination at the 55th Baeksang Arts Awards. In 2019, she starred in the anthology film series Persona and the fantasy television series Hotel Del Luna, the latter of which led to her second Best Actress nomination at the Baeksang Arts Awards. In 2022, IU starred in Hirokazu Kore-Edda's film Broker alongside Song Kang-Ho, Bae Doona, and Gang Dong-Won.

IU has released a total of five studio albums and nine EPs, five of which have reached number one on the Gaon Album Chart, and thirty number-one singles, making her the artist with the most number-one songs in South Korea. One of the best-selling solo acts in the group-dominated K-pop industry, IU became the first solo female K-pop act to perform at the Olympic Gymnastics Arena during the Seoul leg of her 2019 Love, Poem concert tour and also the first Korean female artist to hold a solo concert, The Golden Hour, at Seoul Olympic Stadium in Seoul on September 17 and 18, 2022. Rolling Stone named her the 135th greatest singer of all time in a 2023 ranking. She has been included five times in the top ten of Forbes magazine's annual Korea Power Celebrity list since 2012 and attained a peak ranking of number three that year. In 2014, Billboard recognized IU as the all-time leader of its K-pop Hot 100 with the most number-one songs and the artist with the most weeks at the number-one position on the chart. She was named Gallup Korea's Singer of the Year in 2014 and in 2017.

Ai-Ning Yao was born on 25 April 1990 in Taiwan. She is an actress, known for Because of You (2019), The On1y One (2024) and Take Me to the Moon (2017).

Cindy Yu-Han Lien was born on 26 November 1986 in Taipei, Taiwan. She is an actress, known for A Touch of Green (2015), Qi ji de nu er (2018) and A Thousand Goodnights (2019).

Fei Xing was born on 1 October 1994 in Hulunbuir City, Inner Mongolia, China. She is an actress, known for Put Your Head on My Shoulder (2019), Burning Flames (2024) and Dark Night and Dawn (2024).

Yingchen Zheng is known for Striding Into the Wind (2020), Put Your Head on My Shoulder (2019) and The White Olive Tree (2025).

Tingting Li is known for Unique Memory: Believe in Love (2019), Unique Memory: Love As You Like (2019) and Unique Memory: Farewell to Love (2019).

One of the household names in the Asia-Pacific region, Im Yoon-ah, known in the media as Yoona, is a South Korean a South Korean idol singer, actress, dancer, model, spokesmodel, and member of the South Korean girl group girl group Girls' Generation.

After training for five years, the group debuted in August 2007 and went on to become one of the best-selling artists in South Korea and one of South Korea's most popular girl groups worldwide. Apart from her group's activities, Yoona has participated in various television dramas, notably, 'You Are My Destiny (2008)', which marked her career breakthrough and earned her the Best New Actress awards at the 23rd KBS Drama Awards and the 45th Baeksang Arts Awards.

Yoona has since achieved further public attention and acting acclaim with a variety of role types such as 'Love Rain', 'Prime Minister & I', 'The K2', 'The King in Love', and 'King the Land'. Her film work includes 'Confidential Assignment (2017)', 'Exit (2019)', and her first leading role 'Confidential Assignment 2: International (2022)', all of which are among the highest-grossing films in South Korea. On May 30, 2019, Yoona released her debut extended play A Walk to Remember, charting at number three on South Korea's Gaon Album Chart. The success of Yoona's music and acting careers have led her to various CF deals, notably long-term collaborator Innisfree, and have established her as a top idol-actress of Hallyu.

Yu-Wei Shao was born on 21 September 1989 in Kaohsiung, Taiwan. She is an actress, known for More than Blue: The Series (2021), When I See You Again (2015) and Lost in Perfection (2023).

Hsueh-Fu Kuo was born on 30 June 1988 in Gongliao, Taipei, Taiwan. She is an actress, known for At the Moment (2023), Light the Night (2021) and Jie Da Huan Xi aka As We Like It (2021).

Ko Sung-hee is known for While You Were Sleeping (2017), Miss Korea (2013) and Mother (2018).

Ha Si-eun is known for Jang Ok-jung, Living by Love (2013), The Package (2017) and The Worst Guy Ever (2007).

Seo Hyun-Jin is a South Korean actress and singer. Seo debuted as the main vocalist of the South Korean girl group M.I.L.K. in 2001 and continued until the group disbanded in 2003. She contributed songs as a solo artist after the group's disbandment before she transitioned into acting in 2006.

Seo made her acting debut in the musical The Sound of Music (2006) then followed by appearances in several television series and films. She is best known for her leading role as Oh Hae-young in the romantic comedy TV series Another Miss Oh (2016), which gained her wider recognition. Seo has since gone on to have main cast billing in medical melodrama Dr. Romantic (2016-2017), romance dramas Temperature of Love (2017), The Beauty Inside (2018), and You Are My Spring (2021), and legal drama Why Her (2022).

Chinese actress Shen Yue ,entered the entertainment industry in 2016 with the sci-fi costume web drama " Trembling, Abe! " In 2017, Shen Yue's first starring role in the youth campus web drama " A Love So Beautiful " premiered, and she became well-known to the audience for her role as the energetic girl Chen Xiaoxi .In July 2018, she starred in the youth romance idol drama Meteor Garden, playing the role of Dong Shancai, which attracted more attention.

South Korean fresh face Ha Ji-won is a very talented actress. She first came to theater in 2000 and won an award for best new actress. Her big break was "Sex is zero" and "True or Dare". In 2003, she was cast as Chae-oak in the famous Korean TV drama "Damo" and was stated as South Korean's most promising actress. Ha Ji-won has just finished filming "Duelist" and "Daddy Long Legs". She is now planning to further her English studies in New Zealand.

Her mother (now deceased) was a singer and her father a mining engineer. They moved with her older brother to Hong Kong when she was 18 and she began to take singing lessons. Her teacher introduced her to Cinepoly Records, where she first recorded under the name Wong Jing Man and was given the English name Shirley Wong for three albums. She sang predictable Cantopop and was unsatisfied with her career and eventually left for New York to carve her own identity, returning several months later. Given more creative freedom, she favoured the sounds of R'n'B in her new releases and also started writing her own songs. Her quirky sense of fashion and on-stage antics were often compared to Bjork's. In 1994 she reclaimed her real name and released the self titled "Faye Wong". The album had no cover but a blank white casing and booklet. It cemented her attitude towards music & media, Wong was all about music and did not care for frills and publicity. Her cover of "Dreams" by The Cranberries set her aside from the ballad-crooning Cantopop industry dominated by male singers. In 1995 she released "Restless", with 8 original works by Wong and 2 in collaboration with the Cocteau Twins. This album is widely considered by fans and Wong herself as her best work and most artisically ground-breaking as one song is purely instrumental and 4 sung in a jibberish language invented by Wong. She left Cinepoly in 1997 and was signed to EMI for a record amount. She worked with Cocteau Twins again, who wrote two songs for her first EMI release, "Faye Wong". After 5 albums with EMI she is currently signed with Sony Records. Her first Sony release "To Love" has earnt her nominations in Best Album, Best Female Artist, Best Song, Best Producer, Best Lyrics and Best Arrangment.

She married Dou Wei, the former lead singer of Black Panther, one of China's first successful metal groups. They had a daughter but subsequently divorced. She has been romantically linked on and off again with Nicholas Tse Ting-fung, the bad boy of Cantopop 11 years her junior, since June 2000. Their first breakup was in March 2002 when Tse paired off with Cecilia Cheung Pak-chi, but he and Wong reconciled four months later. Other big Hong Kong entertainments names have been mentioned, including Anita Mui Yim-fong in May 2003, Mui's agent Marianne Wong in November 2003, and on Wong's part, fellow Beijing native and Hong Kong superstar Leon Lai Ming.

Wong is known for being aloof with media and fans, skipping out awards ceremonies, and can be considered the Björk of Asia with regards to both her singing and acting careers. She won the Best Actress award at a Swedish film festival for her role in Chungking Express, her first major feature film. in 2003 she won the Best Actress award in Hong Kong for Chinese Odyssey 2002. She will appear in Wong Kar-Wai's next Cannes Film entry "2046". Unlike most Asian entertainers, acting is a secondary vocation compared to her unique pop sensibilities, becoming successful with both Chinese and non-Chinese audiences, singing primarily in her native Mandarin.

Born in Taiwan, Qi Shu has won the prestigious Golden Horse Award in Taiwan (regarded as the East Asian Oscar) for Best Supporting Actress in 1998. She has also received a Golden Horse Award for Best Leading Actress in 2005. She appeared with Jackie Chan in the romantic comedy Gorgeous (1999) ("Gorgeous"). Her name is spelled in a variety of ways, including Hsu Qi, Hsu Chi, Qi Shu, and Shu Kei, and there are quite a few other variations on her name on foreign V.C.D.s, D.V.D.s, and internet sites.

Baihe Bai was born on 1 March 1984 in Qingdao, Shandong, China. She is an actress and producer, known for Monster Hunt (2015), Go Away Mr. Tumor (2015) and Love is Not Blind (2011). She has been married to SiLin Zhang since 1 January 2019. They have one child. She was previously married to Yufan Chen.

Olga Kurylenko is a Ukrainian-French actress and model, went from sharing a cramped flat with her aunt, uncle, grandparents and cousin to starring as a Bond girl opposite Daniel Craig.

She was born Olga Konstantinovna Kurylenko on November 14, 1979, in Berdyansk, Ukraine, Soviet Union. Her mother, Marina Alyabysheva, divorced her father, Konstantin Kurylenko, soon after her birth. After the divorce her mother struggled to survive as an art teacher. Young Olga was brought up by her mother and her grandmother, Raisa. During her youth Olga had the humbling experience of living in poverty; she had no choice but to wear rags and had to darn the holes on her sweater. During her years in Ukraine she studied art and languages and spent seven years studying piano at a local school of music in Berdyansk. She also went to a ballet studio until 13.

At age 13 Olga and her mother made a trip to Moscow. There she was spotted by an agent, who approached her at a subway station and offered her a job as a model. Initially Olga's mother was suspicious, but she checked the agent's credentials and eventually allowed Olga to accept training as a model in Moscow, which turned out to be a good career choice.

By age 16 she was ready for the next step. She moved to Paris, learned French in six months and was signed by the Madison agency. At age 18 she appeared on the cover of Glamour, and in short order graced the covers of Elle, Madame Figaro, Marie Claire, and Vogue. She also became the face of Lejaby lingerie, Bebe clothing, Clarins and Helena Rubinstein cosmetic companies.

In 1999 Olga married French photographer Cedric Van Mol, but divorced him 3-1/2 years later. One day Olga presented herself to an acting agency. Eventually she swapped the catwalk for the movie screen, and her acting career took off. In 2005 she made her film debut as "Iris", a sensual beauty, in The Ring Finger (2005), by director Diane Bertrand.

Olga's cinematic roles have been notably steamy, and her natural beauty and explicit nudity attracted the attention of the male audiences. She appeared opposite Elijah Wood in Paris, Je T'aime (2006) and as "Sofia" in The Snake (2006), then co-starred as Russian beauty "Nika Boronina" opposite Timothy Olyphant in Hitman (2007). She also appeared as "Mina Harud" in the indie surveillance-thriller Tyranny (2008). On Christmas Eve 2007, Olga was offered to play what will become her biggest hit: co-starring as "Camille", the Bond girl, opposite Daniel Craig in Quantum of Solace (2008), a sequel to Casino Royale (2006).

With the international success as Bond Girl, Olga also made appearances on various TV productions in Russia and Ukraine. In 2012, Olga Kurylenko was cast as Julia, supporting role in the Sci-Fi adventure Oblivion (2013) opposite Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman.

Summer Qing is a native of Beijing, and graduated from Beijing Film Academy's renowned performing division. She made an attention-grabbing film debut as the female lead in Kaige Chen's 1990 Cannes Film Festival-competing Life on a String (1991), about a pair of blind musicians in a rural village. Qing's naturalistic performance contributed greatly to the film, which cemented Chen's reputation as one of the foremost international filmmakers. Soon after, she played the lead in the film of another acclaimed director, Zifeng Ling's Kuang (Crazy), and was nominated for Best Actress at one of China's top film awards, the Hundred Flowers awards. The TV series, "Close to Forbidden City", then shot her to fame across the country as a sweet-natured ingénue.

In 1996, she starred in the Chinese historical epic, The Emperor's Shadow (1996) (The Emperor's Shadow), which is a fictionalized account of China's first emperor and his relationship with a court musician. In official competition at the San Sebastian Film Festival, the film was widely recognized for its vast scope and breathtaking visuals. Qing's leading men were You Ge, one of China's most popular actors today, and Jiang Wen, the internationally renowned actor and director. Testament to her popularity then was Disney's choice to have her voice the part of Mulan (1998), an important Chinese folk figure, in the dubbed Chinese version of their 1998 worldwide hit animated movie. That period also saw her play memorable parts in such TV series as Sun Rise in the East, Rain in the West and Coming and Going. Most Chinese TV audiences remember her from the 2000 big-budget China Central Television landmark production of Laughing in the Wind (2001) (The Legendary Swordsman), which was based on a popular martial arts novel by Louis Cha.

She continued to play regularly in films and TV series over the course of the next decade. In 2007, she was featured in the Hong Kong action movie, Flash Point (2007), which was a box-office hit across Asia. Most memorably, she played the pivotal part of Soong Ching-ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen and an honored historical figure known to every Chinese person, in the hugely successful 2009 film The Founding of a Republic (2009). The film was made to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the People's Republic of China and produced by China Film Group and DMG Entertainment, which is also one of the producers behind Looper. For that role, she won a Hundred Flowers Award for Best Supporting Actress. She won the same prize at the Macau International Film Festival.

In 2011, Qing joined the cast of Looper (2012). Director Rian Johnson acclaimed her as the perfect figure for Chinese women. Qing worked with Bruce Willis, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Emily Blunt in her first Hollywood production. Looper got released worldwide on September 28th, 2012.

Yoo In-Na is a well-known South Korean actress, who first made it big with her role in the popular television serial 'High Kick! Through the Roof'. She initially wanted to be a singer and join a pop group but had to call it quits and concentrate on acting because she could not keep up with the dance steps of K-pop. She had better luck with acting and soon graduated from supporting roles to the lead role in the serial 'Queen In-Hyun's Man'. She also dated co-star Ji Hyun-Woo from the serial for some time but later broke up. Her acting career progressed with her appearance in the movies 'The Fair Love' and 'My Black Mini Dress'. She has participated in the reality show 'Heroes' and performed as MC for the show 'TV Entertainment Tonight'. She has also been a DJ for KBS Cool FM's 'Let's Crank Up the Volume'. Yoo never gave up her dream of becoming a singer and was featured in the single titled 'You That Day' and the soundtrack of the movie 'My Black Mini Dress'. She has won a number of awards including a Special Award at the 1st Olleh-Lottie Smartphone Film Festival and a Best New Actress Award for her role in the television serial 'Secret Garden'.