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Lucy Jeong

If you’re a K-drama fan, you’ve probably swooned over the heart-fluttering romantic moments in your favourite shows. But Korean actresses often live out their own versions of these scenes in real life, with glamorous weddings and even lavish proposals from their wealthy beaus.
Meet five Korean actresses who made headlines when they tied the knot with some of the country’s richest men.
1. Jun Ji-hyun

In 2012, one of Korea’s all-time favourite actresses and CF queen Jun Ji-hyun married Choi Joon-hyuk, whom she knew since junior school. Her husband comes from a prestigious family – his grandmother Lee Young-hee was a famous hanbok designer and his grandfather ran a steel business.

After working for Bank of America, he joined his family business and became CEO and later largest shareholder of Alpha Assets in 2020. According to Maeil Business Newspaper, business is booming as sales revenues increased by seven times to 10.9 billion South Korean won (US$9.1 million) a year after he took the lead.
What’s more than K-drama-like is his proposal: he took Jun to Japan for a surprise trip and popped the question. Also, we can’t not point out that he has the looks of an actor too.
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2. Soo-hyun

Soo-hyun, also known by her English name Claudia Kim, rose to fame after her Hollywood roles in Avengers: Age of Ultron and Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald. She married Korean-American businessman Cha Min-geun (also known as Matthew Shampine) who used to be the general manager of WeWork Korea.

According to Korea’s JoongAng Daily, he joined WeWork at the very beginning and rose to directing the start-up in Korea. The couple had their wedding at Shilla Hotel, which is known as one of the most expensive wedding venues in the country.
3. Han Chae-young

Dubbed “Korean Barbie doll”, Han Chae-young became popular after acting in the 2005 drama series Delightful Girl Chun-hyang. In 2007, she married Korean-American businessman Choi Dong-joon who comes from a wealthy financier family. Choi is known to the public as the vice-president of Medcare Korea and CEO of a tech company HBK.

Just like Jun and her husband, the pair knew each other before Han’s acting debut in 2000, meeting in 1998, when they were both in the US, according to her agency.
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Choi’s big marriage proposal also made headlines as he spent around 7 billion South Korean won (almost US$6 million), gifting her a five carat diamond ring and a luxurious sports car. After a lavish wedding, the pair moved into a 5,000 sq ft marital home in Cheongdam-dong.
4. Lee Si-young

Lee Si-young is one of the most social media savvy actresses out there and has more than 10 million followers on Tiktok, the first Korean actress to achieve that number. And while Lee keeps up with social media trends, her husband Cho Seung-hyun has a similarly savvy business sense: he is the owner of a successful restaurant franchise. Cho built his business from the ground up during his 20s and saw a yearly sales revenue of around 2.5 billion Korean won (around US$2.13 million) in 2021, according to Chosun Ilbo.

His F&B business includes a rooftop bar in Cheongdam-dong, a Korean barbecue restaurant and more. He even opened a salad shop for his wife! The couple tied the knot in 2017 while Lee was 14 weeks into her pregnancy.
5. Shin Joo-ah

After making her television debut in 2004, Shin Joo-ah grabbed the media’s attention when she married a second-generation Chinese-Thai tycoon in 2014. After meeting her husband Sarawut Rachanakul through a mutual friend while she was travelling, they connected quickly – thanks to her husband’s caring personality, according to Shin’s past interviews.
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With her husband’s successful family business – JBP International Paint – Shin now lives in Thailand and often shares her luxurious lifestyle and the family’s grand mansion on her social media.
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Fame and celebrity

5 K-drama actresses who married ultra-rich husbands: from Jun Ji-hyun and Claudia Kim, to ‘Korean Barbie doll’ Han Chae-young, Lee Si-young and Shin Joo-ah

Find out which Korean actresses married into an ultra-rich family. Photos: @SBSfunE/Twitter, Huayi Brothers Korea/Handout, @claudiashkim/Instagram

Jun Ji-hyun is one of Korea’s favourite actresses. Photo: @kdramadash/Twitter

A screenshot from the TV Chosun show Star Documentary My Way, showing Jun Ji-hyun’s husband Choi Joon Hyuk (far right). Photo: TV Chosun

Soo-hyun, aka Claudia Kim. Photo: @claudiashkim/Instagram

Claudia Kim with her husband Cha Min-geun. Photo: @mjshampine/Instagram

“Korean Barbie doll” Han Chae-young met her husband before she was famous. Photo: @han_chae_young/Instagram

Han Chae-young and her husband  Choi Dong-joon out on a date. Photo: Mnet K-pop/YouTube

Lee Si-young is popular on social media. Photo: @leesiyoung38/Instagram

Lee Si-young at her wedding to her husband Cho Seung-hyun. Photo: Huayi Brothers Korea/Handout

Shin Joo-ah now lives in Thailand with her family. Photo: @shinjooah/Instagram

A photograph that Shin Joo-ah shared of her wedding. Photo: @shinjooah/Instagram

Meet Honey Lee, the multitalented Korean star: from winning Miss Korea and awards for K-dramas like One The Woman, to performing at the Winter Olympics and expecting her first child

K-drama star Honey Lee has wowed fans since her days as Miss Korea. Photo: @honey_lee32/Instagram

Honey Lee has announced that she is expecting her first child. Photo: @honey_lee32/Instagram

Honey Lee. Photo: @honey_lee32/Instagram

Honey Lee in One The Woman. Photo: @honey_lee32/Instagram

Honey Lee in traditional Korean dress playing the gayageum. Photo: @honey_lee32/Instagram

Honey Lee has seen a change in Korean beauty standards for women. Photo: @honey_lee32/Instagram

Honey Lee poses for a post on social media. Photo: @honey_lee32/Instagram

Meet BTS’ (almost) 8th member Kim Ji-hun, friend of V, Suga and Jungkook, breakdancer and aspiring K-pop idol – who sadly didn’t make the final cut

Meet the member of BTS that never was: Kim Ji-hun, who trained alongside the likes of V, RM, Suga and Jungkook, but didn’t make the grade as a K-pop band member. Photos: @bito_on94/Instagram, @taemullet/Twitter

Breakdancer Kim Ji-hun was scouted by a K-pop recruiter, but ultimately missed the cut to become a member of boy band BTS. Photo: @bito_on94/Instagram

Kim Ji-hun works for the South Korean government today, but still dreams of making it big somehow. Photo: @bito_on94/Instagram

Kim Ji-hun with BTS member V. Photo: @taemullet/Twitter

5 things to know about Love and Leashes star Lee Jun-young: the former U-Kiss K-pop idol plays the lead in Netflix’s racy new film alongside Girls’ Generation’s Seohyun

U-Kiss’ Jun is starring in his most hotly anticipated on-screen project to date, Netflix film Love and Leashes. Photo: @real_2junyoung/Instagram

Jun didn’t join U-Kiss until several of the original group members started dropping out. Photo: Jflex

Jun got a second shot at K-pop stardom after appearing on The Unit: Idol Rebooting Project. Photo: @official_un_b/Instagram

Boy group UNB were created on The Unit and released the album “Boyhood” before disbanding nine months later. Photo: @official_un_b/Instagram

Jun has already been recognised for his acting skills – will Love and Leashes add another to his trophy cabinet? Photo: @real_2junyoung/Instagram

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Jun’s album cover for “Gallery”, left, and his original artwork, right. Photos: @ssswong3/Twitter

Lee Jun-young looks innocent enough in Love and Leashes – but his character has a secret. Photo: @real_2junyoung/Instagram

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5 K-pop stars who were also pro level athletes: from Got7’s Jackson Wang’s fencing and Wei’s Kim Yohan’s taekwondo, to Enhypen’s Sunghoon’s figure skating – but who had Olympic dreams?

Aside from being super talented and good looking, did you know that these K-pop idols used to be star athletes? Photos: @official_yohan, @leo_jungtw, @jacksonwang852g7/Instagram, @thankuyoonn, @sunghoon.enhypen/Instagram

Jackson Wang left the world of fencing in 2011 to begin training to be a K-pop idol in South Korea. Photo: @jacksonwang852g7/Instagram

Jackson Wang spent the first half of his teen years as a sabre fencer. Photo: @Itsmeploy/Twitter

Enhypen’s Sunghoon turned his back on figure skating. Photo: @sunghoon.enhypen/Instagram

Enhypen’s Sunghoon on the ice. Photo: gyusming.tumblr.com

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Vixx’s Leo playing football. Photo: kpopstarz.com

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Wei’s Yohan trained in the martial art for 13 years. Photo: @wei__official/Instagram

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K-drama darling Jun Ji-hyun tied the knot with Choi Joon-hyuk, who is now the CEO of Alpha Assets – but the pair knew each other from their junior school days
Claudia Kim, the star of Hollywood blockbusters Avengers and Harry Potter’s Fantastic Beasts, wed the former GM of WeWork Korea, Matthew Shampine


These successful K-drama and Hollywood stars all married into money, but which of them was lavished with the US$6 million proposal?
