Hoyeon Jung is a popular South Korean actress and model. Born in Seoul, South Korea, Hoyeon began professionally modeling at 16 after taking classes a year before. Hoyeon’s first major jump in attention began after competing in the second season of the Korean reality series Korea’s Next Top Model in 2011. Hoyeon left the show briefly after landing on the Top 30 to sign on with ESteem Models. She returned to Korea’s Next Top Model on the show’s fourth season and was placed as a runner up.

In the following years, Hoyeon would appear in multiple editorials in Korea before making a jump to pursue a career overseas, signing on with The Soiety Management, Elite Model Management, and Nomad Management. Hoyeon made her international runway debut in the 2016 New York Fashion Week’s opening ceremony.

Since then she has walked for global fashion brands and designers including Marc Jacobs, Alberta Ferretti, Chanel, Max Mara, Fendi, Jeremy Scott, Tory Burch, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Acne Studios, Brandon Maxwell, Gucci, Lanvin, and Zuhair Murad and more. Outside of fashion shows, Hoyeon has appeared in editorials like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Love, CR Fashion Book, and W. Additionally, she was named Louis Vuitton’s Global House Ambassador for fashion, watches, and jewelry in 2021.

Outside of her modeling career, Hoyeon has found success in the world of entertainment. In 2020, Hoyeion debuted as an actress in the widely successful K-drama series Squid Game as the North Korean defector Kang Sae-byeok. Her performance in the role won her the Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Drama Series, helping the show become the first non-English television series to ever win at the SAG awards.