KMazing – Song Hye-kyo was one of the most prominent Hallyu Wave pioneers in the early to mid 2000s through several successful dramas, such as Autumn in My Heart and Full House. She became one of the most famous actress not only in her country, but also abroad. But Hye-kyo’s career is not always uphill track. There was a time when her career slipped down and her personal life was quite ‘messy’ after two relationship that ended with her co-star, Lee Byung-hun and Hyun Bin.

A number of film projects were alos not going well for her, for example the Chinese-Hong Kong film titled The Grandmaster who put her only as supporting cast. But that’s not the point. Hye-kyo admits there was a bit of misunderstanding and friction with the director during the filming, but she thinks the problem helped her to become more mature.

Since starring in the drama Worlds Within with Hyun Bin in 2008, she was on long hiatus from a glass screen before finally comeback five years later through That Winter, the Wind Blows.

From this point on, Song Hye-kyo’s career starts to get on the track again. She was then reunited with director of Worlds Within in the drama That Winter, the Wind Blows, a remake of the Japanese drama Ai Nante Irane Yo, Natsu. She plays the heiress of a blind woman and meets a con artist who pretends to be her long-lost brother (played by Jo In-sung).

That Winter, the Wind Blows was ranked first in its timeslot and the two main actors got a lot of praise and love from the public. Song Hye-kyo finally won the Grand Prize (Daesang), the highest award for television, at the APAN Star Awards.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KsbrJVgQNZc

In 2014, Song Hye-kyo reunited with actor Kang Dong-won (co-star of Camellia’s omibus movie – “Love for Sale”) to play together in My Brilliant Life, E J-yong’s adaptation of My bestselling novel Palpitating Life by Kim Aeran. The story revolves around a married couple who must watch their progerian ill son grow.

The romantic epic film The Crossing is Song Hye-kyo’s second Mandarin film directed by John Woo (Woo’s longtime friend, producer Terence Chang, has been managing Hye-kyo’s activities overseas since 2008). Previously titled 1949 and Love and Let Love, the project was announced at the Cannes Film Festival in 2008, then canceled in 2009, and revived in 2011.

Woo’s recovery from tonsil tumor removal surgery in 2012 caused another delay due to schedule clashes between the cast, and Song Hye-kyo finally started filming in June 2013. The Crossing is based on the true story of the Taiping ship crash and highlights the story of six characters and stories their interlinked love in Taiwan and Shanghai during the 1930s; Hye-kyo plays the daughter of a wealthy banker.

Other appearance on Mandarin films in 2015, The Queens, a contemporary romantic comedy about three cosmopolitan women -a actress, PR specialist, and gallery manager-who manipulate friends and drop their enemies while playing a love game. In addition to starring Joe Chen and Vivian Wu, the film also became the debut of director Annie Yi.

In 2016, Song Hye-kyo comeback to the screen by starring in the mega-hit romantic comedy series Descendants of the Sun, an intense drama about an army captain and a surgeon who fell in love while working in the middle of a disaster-stricken area. This drama is very popular in Korea with its peak viewer rating reaching 41.6%. In Asia, the drama is watched 2.5 billion times on the iQiyi platform.

The popularity of the drama re-established Song Hye-kyo’s status as Goddess in Hallyu Wave. Shee topped the popularity polls in Asia and is famous for her remarkable brand recognition in South Korea. She then won the Daesang (Grand Prize), the highest award at the KBS Drama Awards 2016 along with her co-star Song Joong-ki. And after that, their romance flows as we know it together.