 Du-na Bae was born on October 11, 1979 in Seoul, South Korea to famous Korean stage actress, Kim Hwa-young. Although, she grew up around the theater and rehearsal halls, often memorizing bits of dialogue, this did not encourage her to become an actress, assuming it was only a job for people with extraordinary talent and humbly not considering herself among those numbers.
After graduating from Hanyang University in Seoul in 1998, Bae was recruited by a modeling agency, discovered while walking through the city. This led to work as a clothing model, notably for COOLDOG's catalog. Her acting debut came in 1998 with a small television role in the dramatic miniseries, “Angel’s Kiss”, leading to her casting in the television drama “School”, on the largest of the three major Korean television networks, KBS, for which she won the KBS award for “Most Popular Actress”. Later in 1999, she took the role of Eun-suh (the first victim) in the Korean version of “Ringu” known as “The Ring Virus”.
In 2000, director Bong Joon-ho casted her as Hyeon-nam, the spunky heroine in “Barking Dogs Never bite”, a critically successful dark comedy, for her willingness to appear in the film without makeup, which other Korean actresses outright refused to do. A further example of her bravado was appearing in the film “Plum Blossom”, a romantic drama with some adult content. Reverting back to her television persona, she starred as Tae-hie in Jeong Jae-en’s 2001 drama “Take Care of My Cat,” concerning friends going there separate ways after high school graduation.
Later that year she provided the voice of Izumi / Dejawa for the Korean video game “Tomak: Save the Earth, a Love Story”. She then returned to controversy in 2002 with Park Chan-wook’s masterful “Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance”, catching the eye of the International community and cementing her stardom in Korea. This lead her to the successful comedy “Saving My Hubby” in 2002, where she played Jeong Geum-sun, a newly wed ex-volleyball player who must rescue her husband from gangsters with her baby daughter in tow. Throughout her film career, she continued her Korean television work, appearing in such diverse work as “Ad Madness” (1999), “Love Story: Miss Hip-hop and Mr. Rock (1999), “Turn Your Angry Face” (2000), “Love Cruise” (2000), “RNA” (2000), “Mothers and Sisters” (2000), “I Want To Keep Seeing You” (2001), “You say it's love, but I think it's desire” [Open Drama episode] (2001), “Country Princess” (2003), and “Rosemary” (2003). Set backs came in 2003, when her action film “Tube” and her new romantic comedy “Spring Bears Love”, flopped at the box office. Near exhaustion from a constant work schedule, she decided to take some time off after the principal photography on “Spring Bears Love” was completed, whereupon she discovered a love for photography. She complied some of her photographs into published photo essays titled “Doona's London Play” (2006), “Doona's Tokyo Play” (2007), and “Doona's Seoul Play” (2008). Others photographs have appeared in magazines and are displayed on her website/blog at www.doona.net. Bae finally returned to acting in a stage play from 2004 called “Sunday Seoul”(not to be confused to the South Korean movie of the same title) co-written by Park Chan-wook, her former director. She resumed her television work in 2005 with “Beating heart”, continuing in “Someday” (2006) and “How to Meet a Perfect Neighbor” (2007). Also in 2005, she returned to film with the Japanese film “Linda, Linda, Linda”, playing a Korean exchange student who is recruited as a lead singer for an all girl Japanese band. Bae performed all her own singing in the film, which produced a best selling soundtrack. She also appeared in the short film “Tea Date” in 2005. In 2006 she returned to work with Bong Joon-ho (writer director of “Barking Dogs Never Bite”) on “The Host”, one of the biggest grossing films in South Korean box office history and also achieving international acclaim.
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| Non-acting careers: Modeling, Photography | | Big break: Eun-suh in The Ring Virus | | Defining characters: Cha Yeong-mi in Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance | | Best movies: Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance, The Host | Best TV: School, Ad Madness
| | Stage credits: Sunday Seoul (2004) |
| Other notable appearances/credits:
- Music Video: You - Fish (2000)
- Music Video: Every Time I Look at You - Kang Kyun-Sung (2007)
- Host: Music Camp - MC (MBC, 1999)
- Host: Radio TenTen Club - DJ (SBS, 1999)
| Top awards:
- 1999 KBS Drama Awards: Best New Actress (School, Ad Madness )
- 2000 KBS Drama Awards: Netizen Popularity Award (RNA)
- 2000 Blue Dragon Awards: Best New Actress (Barking Dogs Never Bite)
- 2001 Korean Critics Association Awards: Best Actress (Take Care of My Cat)
- 2001 Chunsa Film Art Awards: Best Actress (Take Care of My Cat)
- 2002 Baeksang Arts Awards: Best Actress (Take Care of My Cat)
- 2002 Pusan Film Critics Awards: Best Actress (Take Care of My Cat)
- 2006 Director's Cut Awards: Best Performer/s Award (The Host cast)
| Published photo essays:
- Doona's London Play (2006)
- Doona's Tokyo Play (2007)
- Doona's Seoul Play (2008)
Commercials:
- TM21
- Binggrae, Cool
- Binggrae Power Cap
- Chew-ets
- Migliore
- Donga Otsuka DemiSoda
- Lykea
- Korean Information and Communications Association
- Crencia
- Whisper Sanitary Napkins
- Tomato Savings Bank - Let's Love (Adoption PSA)
- LG PixDix
- 2008 Kia Sportage
Discography:
- We Are Paranmaum (2005)
- Linda, Linda, Linda OST (2005)
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