Hwang Jung-eum

Biography

Hwang Jung-eum (Korean: 황정음; born December 25, 1984) is a South Korean actress and singer. She first gained recognition for her role in the sitcom High Kick Through the Roof (2009). After starring in her first leading role in television series Listen to My Heart (2011), she became notable for Full House Take 2 (2012), Secret Love (2013), Kill Me, Heal Me (2015), She Was Pretty (2015), The Undateables (2018), Mystic Pop-up Bar (2020), and The Escape of the Seven (2023–2024).

2001–2008: Career beginnings

Hwang Jung-eum debuted with K-pop girl group Sugar in 2001 as a lead vocalist, but left the group in 2004 to pursue a solo career. Hwang appeared as a recurring guest on the variety show Love Letter from 2004 to 2006, in which her onscreen pairing with singer Kim Jong-min became popular. She officially made her acting debut in the television drama The Person I Love in 2007.

2009–2014: Rising popularity as a television actress

In 2009, she and real-life boyfriend Kim Yong-jun (of boy band SG Wannabe) joined the second season of reality dating show We Got Married as the first real-life couple to be featured on the show. Later that year, Hwang rose to mainstream stardom when she appeared in the daily sitcom High Kick Through the Roof.
Her portrayal of a somewhat clumsy, but energetic college student, who is confident despite lacking money and opportunities resonated with many young adult viewers due to its accurate depiction of college students' sentiments. Regarding this breakout in her acting career, Hwang said:

You need to do what you enjoy doing as well as finding what is right for you. I realized my passion for acting during High Kick. You tend to do well when you get compliments and with director Kim Byung Wook encouraging me, I had fun acting. And because it was fun, I was able to achieve good results.

After her role on High Kick, Hwang signed numerous advertising contracts. In several interviews, she recounts how she only had ₩487 (US$0.43) in her bank account when she started the show, but walked away with ₩1.2 billion (US$1.05 million) when it ended. She was ranked 18th on Forbes Korea's Top 40 Celebrities in 2011, and was among the Top 7 Female Commercial Stars in Korea, as compiled by Ilgan Sports.
In February, 2010, Hwang hosted MBC's Star Dance Battle alongside Kim Shin-young, Oh Sang-jin, and Shin Bong-sun. Later that year in December, she was one of the co-hosts of the annual music program SBS Gayo Daejeon with Super Junior's Kim Hee-chul, CNBLUE's Jung Yong-hwa, and 2AM's Jo Kwon.
Hwang then began to commit to acting in television series. Between 2010 and 2012, she starred in the 1970s historical epic Giant, melodrama romance Listen to My Heart, medical drama Golden Time, and romantic comedy Full House Take 2. Listen to My Heart marked Hwang's first leading role.
In 2013, Hwang was cast in crime comedy Incarnation of Money. In the same year, she starred in the hit melodrama crime series Secret Love, which achieved high TV viewership ratings. The drama resulted in Hwang winning multiple awards at the 2013 KBS Drama Awards. The following year she led the show Endless Love, a period drama set in the 1980s–1990s.

2015–present: Continued success

In 2015, Hwang reunited with some of her former costars, namely Ji Sung from Secret Love, for the romantic comedy series Kill Me, Heal Me; then with Park Seo-joon from Kill Me, Heal Me and Go Joon-hee from Listen to My Heart for another romantic comedy, She Was Pretty. Both dramas were commercial successes and solidified her popularity outside South Korea, in countries like China. Ize magazine named her as one of the 10 Persons of the Year and Hwang was selected as Gallup Korea's Television Actor of the Year in 2015. The two MBC series won Hwang multiple awards at the 2015 MBC Drama Awards.
Hwang was cast in her first big screen leading role in the 2015 romantic comedy film My Sister, the Pig Lady, which was screened at the 39th Montreal World Film Festival as part of their World Greats selection. The film also won Grand Prize at the 2016 Osaka Asian Film Festival.

Less than a month after her marriage, Hwang was cast in the 2016 romantic comedy series, Lucky Romance. She then reunited with Namkoong Min in the 2018 romantic comedy The Undateables, with whom she had starred alongside seven years ago in Listen to My Heart.
In 2020, Hwang was cast in two drama series – fantasy mystery Mystic Pop-up Bar and romantic comedy Men Are Men.
In 2022, Hwang accepted an offer to star in well-known screenwriter Kim Soon-ok's upcoming 2023 SBS crime mystery drama The Escape of the Seven.
In July 2023, Hwang signed with a new agency, Y.ONE Entertainment.
In 2025, Hwang admitted to embezzling more than 4.34 billion won (US$2.86 million) from a company that she owned to invest in cryptocurrency. She was subsequently sentenced to a two year prison term suspended for four years by the Jeju District Court.

Relationships

Hwang dated Kim Yong-jun for nine years. They first met in 2005, when Hwang starred in the SG Wannabe music video for My Heart's Treasure Box. The couple then publicly confirmed their relationship in January 2008. Yonhap News Agency broke the news on May 15, 2015, that the couple had ended their relationship after she wrapped up filming for Kill Me, Heal Me. Hwang later confirmed this in an interview with KBS2's Entertainment Relay.
On December 8, 2015, Hwang's agency, C-JeS Entertainment, confirmed that she had been dating Lee Young-don, a professional golfer and businessman, for the past four months. On January 7, 2016, Hwang announced her upcoming marriage to Lee Young-don, with the wedding ceremony to be held in February. On February 26, 2016, the wedding reception was held at Hotel Shilla, Seoul.
In February 2017, Hwang was confirmed to be four months pregnant with her first child and gave birth to a son on August 15, 2017.
On September 3, 2020, after four years of marriage, Hwang's agency C-JeS Entertainment announced that Hwang had submitted an application for divorce and would start the divorce mediation process.
On July 9, 2021, her agency, C-JeS Entertainment, announced that Hwang and her husband had resolved their conflict during their divorce mediation and that the two had decided to remain as a married couple.
On October 12, 2021, Hwang's agency announced that she was pregnant with her second child and expected to give birth the following year. On March 16, 2022, she gave birth to a second son.
On February 22, 2024, it was confirmed that Hwang had filed for divorce from her husband for a second time. Their divorce was finalized on May 26, 2025.
On July 22, 2024, her agency confirmed that she was dating basketball player Kim Jong-kyu. On August 5, 2024, two weeks after the public confirmation of their relationship, Hwang's agency confirmed in a short statement that the two had broken-up.