Early career Ji Jin-hee graduated from
Myongji University with a degree in
graphic design. He was working as a photographer at an advertising agency when
Park Seong-hye approached him about pursuing a career in entertainment. Content at his present job and doubtful that he had any acting talent, Ji refused the offers for a year, but finally agreed when the ad agency downsized during the
IMF financial crisis and he got
laid off. In 1999, Ji appeared in the
music video for Jo Sung-bin's "Like a Third-rate Movie," and he made his acting debut in 2000 with the
television drama Female Secretary. In the next few years, he continued his television career with ''Juliet's Man
(2000), Four Sisters (2001), and the Korean-Japanese co-production Afternoon After the Passing Rain'' (2002) with
Ryoko Yonekura. Ji made his big screen debut in 2002, playing a detective in the
thriller H. This was followed by
If You Were Me, a human rights-themed
omnibus where he starred in
Park Kwang-su's
short film Face Value.
Breakthrough He had drawn positive reviews for his portrayal of a surgeon caught up in a love triangle with a priest in the
melodrama Love Letter, but Ji's breakthrough came in late 2003 with
period drama Dae Jang Geum (also known as
Jewel in the Palace). As a
Joseon-era government official who falls in love with a female chef turned royal physician (played by
Lee Young-ae), Ji's gentlemanly and integrity-filled character attracted female fans across Asia, for not only did
Dae Jang Geum receive high viewership ratings domestically (reaching a peak of 57.8%), it also became popular overseas and became one of the proponents of the
Korean Wave. Ji later parlayed his pan-Asian stardom into roles in the Chinese
musical film Perhaps Love and the
Taiwanese drama The 100th Bride, both in 2005. He next played an amnesiac in
Spring Day, the Korean
remake of
Japanese drama Hoshi no Kinka ("Heaven's Coins"). Fighting against being
typecast in nice roles after
Dae Jang Geum, Ji also played a playboy slacker in romantic comedy series ''Miss Kim's Million Dollar Quest
(2004), for which he received his first acting award. And in black comedy Bewitching Attraction'' (2006), he was cast as a
cartoonist who shares a past with a promiscuous professor. In 2007, Ji starred in
Im Sang-soo's
The Old Garden, adapted from
Hwang Sok-yong's novel about a couple who meet during the turbulent 1980s surrounding the
Gwangju Uprising; he played an anti-government activist who gets released from prison after serving 17 years for his political activities. This was followed by Ji's first
action film,
Yoichi Sai's
Soo, in which he played
dual roles as a hired killer who avenges the death of his twin brother. Ji returned to television in 2008, as a veteran news reporter in
Spotlight. In 2009, he played a fussy, 40-year-old bachelor architect in ''
He Who Can't Marry, the Korean remake of Japanese drama Kekkon Dekinai Otoko'' ("The Man Who Can't Get Married"). Ji next appeared in the Korean-Japanese "telecinema"
Paradise, which both received a theatrical release and aired on
SBS and
TV Asahi. He also published
Ji Jin-hee in Italy: A Walk in the Clouds, which featured photos and essays about his travels in
Rome,
Florence and
Milan, as well as Ji's recommendations and tips about
wine. In 2008, Ji signed an exclusive contract with NOA Entertainment. NOA Entertainment is a management company established in October 2007 by former managers of his previous agency
Sidus HQ. In 2010, Ji starred in
Parallel Life, playing Korea's youngest ever chief presiding judge, who upon his wife's murder discovers that his life may exactly replicate that of someone who died 30 years ago. He was next cast as a music critic and radio show host who goes in search of his missing spouse in the
road trip comedy Looking for My Wife (also known as
Runaway from Home). Then Ji reunited with
Dae Jang Geum television director Lee Byung-hoon in another period drama
Dong Yi, which also proved popular with audiences. As
King Sukjong, who falls for a
palace maid (played by
Han Hyo-joo) and makes her his royal concubine, Ji said he wanted to show a monarch who had "weak spots that show through his charismatic exterior. Rather than being a dignified king, he is an outgoing and adventurous character." Ji continued playing leading roles in television, as an airline pilot in
Take Care of Us, Captain (2012), general and Joseon dynasty founder
Yi Seong-gye in
The Great Seer (2012), an adulterous husband in
One Warm Word (2013), and a villainous doctor in
Blood (2015). He also wrote the original draft of the
screenplay of
horror-comedy
Ghost Sweepers (2012), for which he received a
story by credit. In 2013, Ji signed an exclusive contract with HB Entertainment. From 2014 to 2015, Ji starred in three Chinese films, namely:
On the Way opposite
Eva Huang, in which a recently divorced Korean man meets a Chinese woman on a train while traveling in China;
Bad Sister opposite
Ivy Chen, a romantic comedy where a father who wants to stop his daughter's wedding teams up with the groom's equally disapproving older sister; and
Helios, a crime thriller about the theft of nuclear weapons by a group of terrorists. On April 30, 2019, Ikkle Entertainment announced that Ji signed an exclusive contract with them. == Personal life ==