South Korean actress Hoyeon Jung gained global acclaim as one of the stars of hit Netflix show ‘Squid Game’.
She has now gained another feather in her cap, as she’s the first South Korean to appear solo on the cover of Vogue.
The star spoke to the popular fashion magazine about coping with the fame from ‘Squid Game’, a dystopian series where debt-ridden contestants compete in a sadistic game to win a large sum of money.
“I don’t know why, but I couldn’t eat. I was so confused, and it was so chaotic,” she said, adding that she lost 3.6kg. “I didn’t believe it. I didn’t trust it.”
The 27-year-old model-turned-actress said her “entire life changed in just one month” after the Korean survival thriller premiered.
In ‘Squid Game’, Jung played Kang Sae-byeok, a hardened North Korean defector who needs money to save her family.
“My mom did joke that my acting was very realistic, like when I’m being mean to her,” Jung said. “My younger sister never really took an interest in my career. She just thinks of me as her older sibling, so when she told me that my acting was ‘not that bad’ in Squid Game, I was quite surprised.”
The series is likely headed for a second season.
Talking about her acting dreams, she added: “I have always wanted to go to Hollywood and to act in America, and I still do. But ‘Squid Game’ changed my mindset. It doesn’t have to be an American movie or a European movie, it’s the story and the message that are more important.”
