Minor spoilers for season one of Squid Game (‘오징어 게임’) ahead.
In the modeling world, Hoyeon Jung’s resumé is more than impressive. Hailing from Seoul, the now 27-year-old entered the industry as a young teenager. In 2013, at 19, she placed second on Korea’s Next Top Model. That was but the start of a burgeoning career. In 2016, she landed her first major runway with Louis Vuitton, her freshly-dyed fiery red hair soon becoming her trademark. It was her international debut. After that, she, maybe unknowingly, positioned herself as a staple in fashion weeks around the world, walking for the likes of Marc Jacobs, Fendi, Max Mara, Bottega Veneta, Chanel, Miu Miu, Prabal Gurung, Jason Wu, Jacquemus, Burberry, Gabriela Hearst… the list could go on for the entirety of this piece. And, yet, that is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to her achievements. (On October 6, Louis Vuitton announced Hoyeon as its new global ambassador.)
Fashion might have placed Hoyeon on the map, but it’s her acting that has catapulted her to the stratosphere. In January 2020, now back to her natural brunette, it was revealed that Hoyeon had joined Saram Entertainment, a Korean talent agency that specializes in film and series. Shortly after, she would land her breakout role in Netflix’s most popular K-drama, Squid Game.
Squid Game is Hoyeon’s first acting gig — though you might have seen her in a few music videos, like 100%’s “Beat.” Since its premiere on September 17, the South Korean production, penned and directed by Hwang Dong-hyuk, has been dominating social media and smashing Netflix records. Hoyeon plays Kang Sae-byeok, a North Korean defector with sly pickpocketing skills who places family above everything else. Fittingly, her character’s name translates to “Dawn.” In hopes of bringing her mother to South Korea and giving her brother a better life, Sae-byeok joins the deadly game scheme as player no. 067. You can call it a new dawn, a new day, a new life… or a way out. Arguably, the only way out.
Hoyeon’s performance has been resonating with audiences all around the globe, who are now also flocking to social media to follow her every move. When we spoke just a few days ago, her Instagram had just hit 7 million followers, up more than 6 million from the 400K she had prior to the series premiere. It is now at almost 15 million — and probably only getting higher by the minute. (According to NME, she’s now the most followed South Korean actress on the app.)
Hoyeon has all the credentials to brag, and yet she is unbelievably humble. From Seoul, the star speaks with a candor that feels almost inexplicable — we’ve never met, but as soon the video call starts, she’s welcoming and warm. Time and time again, she reinforces how appreciative she is to have the chance to chat about her new career. Nearing the end of our chat, Netflix tells us Squid Game is number one in 90 countries, which is met with an incredibly cute audible gasp from Hoyeon. But she’s not letting the numbers get to her head. As those keep piling up, she’s taking it all in stride.
(Note: Hoyeon spoke via an interpreter during this interview.)
Teen Vogue: So, it might not look like it, but Squid Game is your acting debut. When and why did you decide to go into acting?
Hoyeon Jung: This all goes back to the very beginning. I used to hear people say that models have very short careers, which I don't really agree with... I think that even when you grow old, you can still continue modeling if you have that willingness. But I think I kind of put a lot of thought into other options as my modeling career was slowly declining. I started to worry about what I should do when I had no job at all. I started to think about my next steps and that's when I figured maybe it could be a good idea to start acting. This was about five years after I’d started modeling. Back then, it was only one of the options that I was considering, and I wasn't really serious about it, but as I started my career overseas, I had a lot of alone time in airplanes, hotels... and I had nothing to do but watch movies, Netflix series, or read books.
I felt that urge to express myself on screen. I was modeling overseas but, during the holiday seasons, summer and winter, I came back to Korea for some time and I took acting lessons for about a month at a time. In total, I think I took about three months of acting lessons. Squid Game came at a moment where I was really thinking seriously about my acting career, so I wanted to put this into action finally. When my modeling agency contract ended and I moved to an acting agency, this was the first script that I got for my first open audition, and I got the role after auditioning for the part. And actually, the first audition was a video audition that I took when I was in New York [for fashion week] and the director wanted to see me in person. I did the second audition after coming to Korea, face to face, and I got the part right away.
TV: Are you done with the fashion world at all? Or are you going to continue modeling on the side?
HJ (in English): I hope I can do both but, physically, I think if I got a role or a new series came in, then I’d have to focus on the shooting. At that moment, I don't think I can do modeling at the same time as acting, but, if I don't have a time [where I need to be shooting], then I could do modeling. I could manage. I'm a very flexible person!
TV: That's good to know. When you started modeling, you blew up because of your red hair. When did you transition from redhead to black hair? Did it have something to do with the character?
HJ: I wanted a personal transformation for myself as I was starting my career overseas. It wasn’t like I had it planned in advance, it was just a spur-of-the-moment decision. I had a hair colorist that I knew, so I went to her and had my hair colored, and fortunately, this helped me achieve a very successful modeling career.
But, it's very difficult to maintain red hair. You have to dye it every two weeks and this meant just torture for my scalp. I think I kept it for about two years and I just felt like I couldn't do it anymore. So I started to tone my hair down... slowly [transitioning] to darker tones and that kind of [aligned] with [the time] my career started to decline. Maybe it was because people felt less interested about my hair color, but this also meant more time for me to spend on my hobbies, watching films and Netflix series. Everything just came together like that.
TV: I think it's good that the red hair had to go then.
HJ: Yes. [Laughs.]
TV: Your character, Sae-byeok, is a North Korean defector, and you spent time working with a coach on the accent and the satoori, the dialect. What else did you do to research the role? Was it challenging to not only get your first big role but to have it be so specific in terms of background?
HJ: I practiced Sae-byeok’s accent with actual North Korean defectors, and she speaks specifically the 함경북도 사투리, which is the Northern Hamgyŏng province dialect. So, I tried to practice that. Sae-byeok’s background is that it's been some time since she's moved to the South. She came to South Korea when she was very little, she knows that it's no good for her to speak in a North Korean accent, so she tried hard to fix it already. She only speaks in a North Korean accent when she's with her brother or close friends, or when she's really angry. The rest of the time she just speaks in a South Korean accent.
As I was researching the character, I tried to watch a lot of North Korean defector-related documentaries. I think I was inspired mostly by those documentaries. I tried to study them to find out how to gather my emotions. And I also tried to practice and learn martial arts because it was my first time doing action scenes. I wanted to really prepare for them very thoroughly beforehand.
TV: You recently said that you related to Sae-byeok a lot because she was lonely and you, too, felt lonely during your modeling gigs overseas.
HJ: This is probably something that all humans go through, it’s a universal thing. I think the emotions that they truly feel within them and what they try to show to others, the mask that they put on, is different. For me, I try to put on a very bright face, a perky face all the time, whereas Sae-byeok tries to hide herself. It is [a] different [approach] but, in a way, very connected. There is something in common.
TV: Something about Sae-byeok that audiences are loving — at least I know I loved it while watching — is her rapport with Lee Yoo-mi’s character, Ji-yeong or player no. 240. The marble game was heartbreaking. What did you like most about your two characters’ shared storyline?
HJ: Ah, Yoo-mi! During the marble game, when they ask each other their names, [was one of my favorite scenes]. This scene carries a lot of meaning in my opinion. Before the game begins, they know from the get-go that one person has to die and they still communicate and try to tell the other person their [story]. I loved that scene personally the most. As an actor, when I think of Yoo-mi, I’m like, how can this [relationship] be this perfect? We're the same age and I really connected with her from the beginning. We talked a lot, we had a lot of conversations. I think that's probably why so many people love our relationship. I think since this is a partnership, a scene that we created together, it probably is inevitable that everybody fell in love with our connection. I really enjoyed every moment of filming with her, and we were really happy. So, there's no need for you guys to feel sad.
TV: Yeah. Well, we did.
HJ (in English): Please don’t be sad. We were happy. We were happy to work with each other. It was one of the best experiences of my career working with Yoo-mi.
TV: The chemistry you guys have is great. There's great fan art of you two out there. And you are both 94-liners! Speaking of friendships, you shared a photo with BLACKPINK’s Jennie to your Instagram after the series premiere and Lee Jung-jae shared that she actually got you guys a coffee truck when she visited the set. Can you tell me more about that visit? How did you guys become BFFs?
HJ: We first met at Paris Fashion Week. Jennie came to see the Chanel show and I was on the runway. Jennie’s stylist knew us both so we coincidentally came across and were introduced to each other, but I don't really remember how it was when we first met back then. But I remember Jennie had a concert in New York, so I went to that concert and we hung out. After that, we would also hang out in Korea when we were there and we would have meals together. I think we got close because we're a similar age and we do something similar career-wise. She has been fully supportive of my new acting career and I believe that she's a true angel. I'm so grateful for everything. She sent a coffee truck and she was very happy for me when I first got the role. She also posted an Instagram story of Squid Game before it was officially released and I think that's probably why some of the fans got intrigued in the first place. I can't really express how grateful I am to her.
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TV: Speaking of Instagram, your following has skyrocketed since the series premiere. I think you went from like a couple of hundred thousand to millions, I think yesterday it was 7 million. And I don't know if you know this but Ted Sarandos, Netflix’s co-CEO, said that Squid Game could become the biggest series ever on the platform. How does that make you feel for your debut?
HJ: I heard that! It’s unreal. Just unreal. I never expected this sort of thing to happen so I think the biggest emotion that I'm feeling is that I just can’t believe it. What I'm trying to do is I'm trying to see people that are very close to me so that I can stay [grounded] and I don't get carried away because of this. At the same time, I also try to feel grateful for every person who made this series possible and every single person of the audience, the Netflix members… Every morning, as I open my eyes, I try to remind myself of that.
TV: Do you have anything planned for the future acting-wise? If you don't have anything or you can’t tell, is there something that you would want to do in the near future, something you’ve always wanted to try out?
HJ: I don’t know yet. So many things are happening right now, so I'm in the process of digesting everything and putting things in order. I think it's too early for me to say that this is my goal or this is my plan. I’m just going to try and do my best to live every day to the fullest.
TV: I think that is a good goal.
HJ (in English): I’m going to live [live to the fullest], as much as I can, day by day.
TV: And enjoy the moment, it’s not every day that you get to be part of one of Netflix's biggest series! I think living in the present is amazing.
HJ (in English): Thank you. Yes, I’m grateful and I’m glad but, at the same time, it's confusing. “What's going on?” It's just so fast... it's going so fast and my body and my brain can’t follow the changes. I need to just focus on the things that I have right now — and then let me find my goal or my next plan.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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Want more from Teen Vogue? Check this out: “Squid Game” Is a Social Allegory Informed by Korean History
