2000–2005: Beginnings and East Asia stardom Son Ye-jin was the voice of
Jung Mi-jo in Park Ki-hyung's film
Secret Tears in 2000, and then took leading roles in television dramas such as
Delicious Proposal,
Sun-hee and Jin-hee, and
Great Ambition. Her first high-profile role in cinema was in
Im Kwon-taek's
Chi-hwa-seon, which screened at
Cannes and took home a
Best Director award in 2002. The biggest successes of her early career were in the films ''
Lovers' Concerto and The Classic. Both were films mid-level hits in Korea, and The Classic in particular — being a work of My Sassy Girl'' director
Kwak Jae-yong — received wide exposure in Hong Kong and mainland China, and launched Son's East Asia stardom. Son further solidified her status as a
Hallyu (
Korean Wave) star in 2003 by taking the lead in TV drama
Summer Scent, the third installment of the season-themed tetralogy
Endless Love directed by Yoon Seok-ho. Her next films also gained wide popularity in East Asia, particularly in Japan:
A Moment to Remember, based on a famous Japanese series, set box office records in Japan and sold over two million tickets in Korea, and
April Snow, in which she co-starred with superstar
Bae Yong-joon, which was also a hit in Japan and China. Son, who assumed a pure and innocent image in her films
The Classic and
A Moment to Remember, was given the title of the "Nation's First Love" in Korea.
2006–2015: Film roles and genre expansion Son cast off her nice girl image in her next projects. an ambitious reporter in
Spotlight, a
femme fatale in
Open City, and a divorcée in the critically acclaimed series
Alone in Love. In 2008, her portrayal of a
polyandrous woman in
My Wife Got Married won her Best Actress honors from the prestigious
Blue Dragon Film Awards and other local bodies. After filming the dark mystery
White Night, Son acted in the romantic comedy series
Personal Taste, followed by the horror-romantic comedy film
Spellbound, which became one of the top-grossing films in 2011, and by far the most successful Korean romantic comedy movie in recent years. In 2012, Son starred in her first blockbuster,
The Tower, a remake of the 1974 Hollywood
disaster film The Towering Inferno. She returned to television in 2013 in the revenge drama
Shark, then headlined
Blood and Ties, a thriller about a daughter who suspects that her father was involved in a kidnapping-murder case. Son reunited with
Shark co-star
Kim Nam-gil in the 2014 period adventure film
The Pirates, which received mixed reviews but was a commercial hit with more than 8.6 million admissions at the end of its theatre run, and which won Son the Best Actress award at the
Grand Bell Awards. The Pirates was one of the
highest-grossing Korean films of all time, along with other Son Ye Jin's movies,
The Tower and
The Last Princess. Son next starred in the
black comedy Bad Guys Always Die opposite Taiwanese actor
Chen Bolin, a Chinese-Korean co-production that was filmed on
Jeju Island.
2016–2018: Critical acclaim In 2016, Son reunited with
My Wife Got Married co-star
Kim Joo-hyuk in
The Truth Beneath, a political thriller, for which she received critical acclaim. She won Best Actress at the 25th
Buil Film Awards and 17th
Busan Film Critics Awards for her performance. Son next played
Princess Deokhye in the
biopic The Last Princess, directed by
April Snow director
Hur Jin-ho. The film drew positive critical reviews and went on to become a box office hit, grossing US$40.35 million worldwide. Sung So-young of the
Korea JoongAng Daily praised the film for being "interesting enough to hold the audience's interest from beginning to end," even though she felt the screenwriter's (Hur) imagination went too far in several scenes. She said major events from Princess Deokhye's life were portrayed well, and the film's biggest virtue was how it made audiences want to know more about her. Rumy Doo of
The Korea Herald said Son Ye-jin proved herself a "sensitive and technically refined performer." Son was praised by critics for her "outstanding" performance in her portrayal of "the unfathomable depths on the emotional ups and downs of Deokhye," winning multiple accolades for her performance. In 2018, Son starred alongside
So Ji-sub in the romantic film
Be with You, based on the Japanese novel of the same name. That same year, Son returned to the small screen after five years with JTBC's romantic drama
Something in the Rain. The series achieved commercial popularity, and Son received rave reviews for her performance. Son also starred in the crime thriller
The Negotiation, alongside
Hyun Bin, playing a professional negotiator working to save hostages.
2019–present: International success In 2019, Son reunited with
Hyun Bin in the global hit romantic drama
Crash Landing on You as a wealthy heiress who falls in love with a North Korean
commissioned officer. Son was scheduled to have her Hollywood debut in 2022, starring opposite
Sam Worthington in filmmaker
Andrew Niccol's work
The Cross, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic, her agency requested a delay in filming. In 2025, Son starred in
Park Chan-wook's
No Other Choice. The film garnered critical acclaim. == Philanthropy ==