Choi Ji-woo

Choi Ji-woo (born Choi Mi-hyang on June 11, 1975) is a South Korean actress. She is most famous for starring in the television melodramas Winter Sonata, Beautiful Days and Stairway to Heaven.

Career

Choi Mi-hyang was first discovered when she won a talent audition organized by MBC in 1994, then made her acting debut in the drama series War and Love in 1995. Afterwards, she adopted the stage name "Choi Ji-woo."

She was cast in her first major role in 1996 film The Gate of Destiny, but due to her limited acting skills, she was replaced in the middle of filming. In the next couple of years Choi continued to star in both TV dramas and films, including The Hole (a Korean remake of Hollywood thriller Hush), as well as the romantic comedies First Kiss with Ahn Jae-wook and The Romantic President with Ahn Sung-ki. But it was her portrayals on TV of tragic heroines with a pure and innocent image—notably in Truth opposite Ryu Si-won and Beautiful Days opposite Lee Byung-hun—that boosted her rising popularity.