Meet Jeon Jong-seo, Money Heist Korea’s rising star: she acted with Zac Efron and Kate Hudson, her first film was shortlisted for an Oscar before Parasite – and she’s dating her former director
- Jeon dropped out of university in favour of private acting classes – which paid off, considering her first role landed her opposite veteran actors Yoo Ah-in and Steven Yeun
- She landed a role in Hollywood film Mona Lisa and the Blood Moon as well as Korean romcom Nothing Serious in 2021 – now she’s set to play Tokyo in a spin-off of the hit Netflix heist drama
The list already features some familiar names like Squid Game’s Park Hae-soo, Oldboy’s Yoo Ji-tae and actress Yunjin Kim, but there are few others that caught our eye too.
Jeon Jong-seo, 27, has already built a stellar reputation throughout her short career, being named one of Korea’s rising stars in recent years, too. Now with her much-anticipated role in Money Heist, we are confident that her stardom will only reach greater heights afterwards.
Here we take a look at some interesting facts about the young and beautiful Miss Jeon.
She is a university dropout
While most Korean stars take formal acting lessons at universities, Jeon chose a slightly different path. The Seoul-born, Canada-raised actress spent most of her childhood in the Maple Country and returned to South Korea to finish high school at the prestigious Anyang Arts High School.
She then attended Sejong University, majoring in film before dropping out and choosing to hone her acting skills via private classes instead. According to the Korean Film Council site, “she eventually decided to stop after a year as she didn’t feel particularly interested in the kind of lectures that were offered there”.
Her first film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival
Jeon’s life story is nothing but extraordinary. After joining her first talent agency, she did her first open audition back in 2017 for director Lee Chang-dong’s much-anticipated Burning (2018) opposite veteran actors Yoo Ah-in and Steven Yeun. After months of auditions, she beat over 2,000 actresses and landed the part of the free-spirited Haemi.