Jo Min-su

Jo Min-su (Hangul: 조민수; born January 29, 1965) is a South Korean actress. She is best known for her award-winning turn in the Kim Ki-duk film Pietà.

Career

Jo Min-su graduated from a vocational high school, Gyungbok Girls' Commercial High School, and first entered the entertainment business by doing a television commercial for ₩120 thousand (about US$100). She debuted in 1986 via the KBS TV Cultural Center, then appeared first on the big screen in Chung: Blue Sketch. But her public profile grew more through her television roles than movies, culminating in a Best Actress trophy in the 1989 KBS Drama Awards. Among her other notable TV series were Sandglass, Daemang (also known as Great Ambition), and Piano. After her marriage in 2005, she took a break from her acting career, but returned four years later with a memorable performance in Will It Snow for Christmas?.

But 2012 would prove to be the now-veteran actress's breakthrough year. Though she initially had reservations about doing a film by controversial auteur Kim Ki-duk, Jo became thankful to Kim for giving her the chance "to work with new material from what I was used to in the past. There aren't too many roles that women my age can do. They all seem the same. But this role was different." Her performance in Pietà brought her rave reviews and praise at the Venice Film Festival, as well as from domestic critics and audiences, notably a Best Actress trophy at the Grand Bell Awards. She was also awarded the prestigious Okgwan Order of Cultural Merit.