Youn Yuh-jung
Biography
Youn Yuh-jung is a South Korean actress born on June 19, 1947, in Gaeseong, Gyeonggi, Korea. She gained attention on Korean television in the late 1960s and rose to prominence with the film Woman of Fire in 1971. Youn retired from acting in the mid-1970s after marrying and immigrating to the United States, but returned to acting in the late 1980s following her divorce. Known as the "Godmother of Chungmu-ro," she has appeared in notable films such as The Housemaid, The Taste of Money, The Bacchus Lady, and Canola. Youn has also played matriarch roles in television dramas including Men of the Bath House, Be Strong, Geum-soon!, Daughters-in-Law, and My Husband.
Career overview
Youn Yuh-jung is a South Korean actress. She gained attention on Korean television in the late 1960s. Youn rose to prominence with the film Woman of Fire in 1971. She then retired from acting in the mid-1970s after marrying and immigrating to the United States.
However, Youn returned to acting in the late 1980s following her divorce. She has since appeared in a number of notable films, including The Housemaid in 2010 and The Taste of Money in 2012. Youn has also appeared in television dramas, often playing matriarch roles. Some of her notable television credits include Men of the Bath House in 1995 and Be Strong, Geum-soon! in 2005.
Youn has continued to work in the entertainment industry, appearing in films such as The Bacchus Lady in 2016 and Canola in 2016. Her extensive career spans over five decades, with a total of 95 acting credits.
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Frequent co-stars
Career timeline
Full filmography
- The Wedding Banquet (2025) as Ja-Young
- Sohn's Questions (2024) as Self
- Dog Days (2024) as Min-seo
- Earl. (2024) as Self
- BEEF (2023) as Chairwoman Park
- Nattering with Nah (2023) as Self
- Pachinko (2022) as Older Sunja
- The Boys Presents: Diabolical (2022) as Sun-Hee (voice)
- Youn's Unexpected Journey (2022) as Self
- Minari (2021) as Soonja
- Next Entertainment, Visionary (2021) as Self
- Youn Stay (2021) as Self
- Be a Wicked Woman (2021) as Ms. Choi
- Heaven: To the Land of Happiness (2021) as Ms. Yoon
- Beasts Clawing at Straws (2020) as Soon-ja
- Lucky Chan-sil (2020) as Grandmother
- The Kelly Clarkson Show (2019) as Self
- Never Twice (2019) as Bok Mak-Rye
- Modern Korea (2019) as Self (archive footage)
- You Quiz on the Block (2018) as Self
- Keys to the Heart (2018) as In-sook
- Master In The House (2017) as Self
- Youn's Kitchen (2017) as Self
- Ladies Of The Forest (2017) as Soon-shim
- Dear My Friends (2016) as Oh Choong-nam
- Canola (2016) as Gye-choon
- The Bacchus Lady (2016) as So-young
- Sense8 (2015) as Min-Jung
- The Producers (2015) as Self
- Right Now, Wrong Then (2015) as Kang Deoksoo
- Salut d'Amour (2015) as Geum-nim
- Intimate Enemies (2015) as Yeo-jung
- Three Meals a Day: Jeongseon Village (2014) as Self
- Wonderful Days (2014) as Jang So-sim
- Hill of Freedom (2014) as Innkeeper
- The Queen's Classroom (2013) as Yong Hyun-ja
- Noonas Over Flowers (2013) as Self
- Boomerang Family (2013) as Mother
- Behind the Camera (2013) as Self
- My Husband Got a Family (2012) as Uhm Chung-ae
- The King 2 Hearts (2012) as Bang Yang-seon (the Queen Mother)
- The Taste of Money (2012) as Baek Geum-ok
- 重複刪除 (2012) as 嚴清愛
- In Another Country (2012) as Park Sook
- Can You Hear My Heart? (2011) as Hwang Soon-geum
- Hindsight (2011) as Madame Kang
- List (2011) as Mi-hye's Mother
- Golden Fish (2010) as Cho Yoon-hee
- The Housemaid (2010) as Byeong-sik a.k.a. Miss Cho
- Home Sweet Home (2010) as Sung Eun-sook
- Ha Ha Ha (2010) as Moonkyung's Mother
- Heading to the Ground (2009) as Ae Ja
- The Road Home (2009) as Bam Soon-jung
- The Actresses (2009) as Youn Yuh-jung
- The Actresses (2009) Co-Writer
- Chunja's Happy Events (2008) as Yang Boon-hee
- A Tale of Legendary Libido (2008) as Old Woman
- Worlds Within (2008) as Oh Min-suk
- Daughters-in-Law (2007) as Seo Mi-soon
- The Person I Love (2007) as Yoon Min-ja
- The Old Garden (2007) as Hyun-woo's Mother
- Hwang Jin Yi (2007) as Old Woman
- Pure in Heart (2006) as Myeong Hye
- Maundy Thursday (2006) as Sister Monica
- A Farewell to Sorrow (2005) as Lee Yeon-sim
- Be Strong, Geum-soon! (2005) as Kim Jin-soon
- The President's Last Bang (2005) as Mother
- Ireland (2004) as Shi Yeon's Mother
- Springtime (2004) as Mother
- Pearl Necklace (2003) as Yoon Hae-Myung
- A Good Lawyer's Wife (2003) as Hong Byeong-han
- Who's My Love? (2002) as In-ae
- Ruler of Your Own World (2002) as 정유순
- 사랑은 이런거야 (2001) as Lee Jung-Ja
- Hotelier (2001) as Yoon Bong-sook
- KAIST (1999) as Professor
- Hur Jun (1999) as Sung In-cheol's wife
- Did We Really Love? (1999) as Choi Hye-ja
- 내가 사는 이유 (1997) as 손미나
- Open Your Heart (1996) as Choi Soon Joo
- 목욕탕집 남자들 (1995) as Roh Hye-young
- How's Your Husband? (1993)
- 산다는 것은 (1993)
- 여자의 방 (1992)
- MBC Bests Theater (1991) as 정혜
- What is Love? (1991) as Han Sim-ae
- 배반의 장미 (1990) as 옥선
- KBS Drama Awards (1987) as Host
- Woman Requiem (1985) as Ms. Hong
- The Day and Night of a Korean-American (1978) as Mrs. Hyun
- Tto Sun Yi, a college girl (1973) as Bok-nyeo
- Insect Woman (1972) as Myung-ja
- Woman of Fire (1971) as Myeong-ja
- The Oscars (1953) as Self
- 남은정
- Haesol: The Soul Guide's Journey as Yoosun (voice)