Jihyun Jun Biography

Jun Ji-hyun ( born October 30, 1981) also known as Gianna Jun, is a South Korean actress and model famous for her role in My Sassy Girl, Il Mare, and Windstruck.

Jun was born in Seoul, South Korea, and studied in the Department of Theater and Film at Dongguk University. She began her career as a fashion model for Echo Magazine in 1997 at the age of 16.
After appearing in a number of TV sitcoms, her movie debut came in White Valentine (1999). This was followed by a role in Il Mare (2000), which proved to be a success. An American remake of Il Mare, The Lake House, was released 14 June 2006. However, her biggest breakthrough was in My Sassy Girl (2001), a romantic comedy that went internationally well known, and won her a Best Actress award at the Daejong Film Festival in 2002. In 2004, she starred in the film Windstruck, a South Korean fantasy-romantic comedy which was directed by Kwak Jae-yong. The film was also another major success and was the 8th-highest grossing Korean film of 2004. In 2006, she was also in the movie Daisy. In 2008, she was also in the film A Man Who Was Superman.
Ji Hyun worked closely with CJ Entertainment, particularly with the distribution of Windstruck, The Uninvited, and A Man Who Was Superman.
In 2009, she made her English-language film debut when she starred as Saya in Blood: The Last Vampire, which was filmed in China and Argentina in March 2007. It is slated for a March 2009 release. During that time, she adopted the Westernised name Gianna Jun. The film was Jun's first official action film and was a "drastic" change in her image from previous films.