Song won second place at the Super Elite Model Contest in 1996, then transitioned from a
modeling career to acting a year later in the
television drama Model (1997). In 1998, Song made her film debut playing
dual roles as an art gallery employee and a soldier's ex-girlfriend in Lee Jeong-hyang's critically acclaimed
romantic comedy Art Museum by the Zoo, opposite
Ahn Sung-ki. This was followed by the gangster comedy
My Boss, My Hero (2001). Though Song is more active in television, notable in her filmography are many
arthouse films by auteur
Hong Sang-soo. For
Woman on the Beach (2006), she and her co-stars agreed to appear in the film even without reading Hong's script. While in
The Day He Arrives (2011), Song played a film studies professor who frequents a bar in
Bukchon. Back on the small screen, her popularity rose when she played a young housewife in
Precious Family (2004), written by
Kim Soo-hyun. Leading roles followed in
The Secret Lovers (2005),
One Day Suddenly (2006),
Green Coach (2009),
Mrs. Town (2009), and
Dandelion Family (2010), as well as a supporting role in the well-received
medical drama Behind the White Tower (2007). In 2012, Song was cast as a capable
trauma nurse in
Golden Time. She later reunited with its
director Kwon Seok-jang in
Miss Korea (2013), set in 1997 during the
IMF crisis. Song starred in her first ever
period drama in 2013's
Blooded Palace: The War of Flowers. She drew praise for her portrayal of the Crown Princess Lady Kang,
Crown Prince Sohyeon's wife, despite controversy involving a breastfeeding scene. ==Personal life==