Hoyeon

Hoyeon, born Jung Ho-yeon, is a South Korean model and actress who became a world star almost overnight. She is best known as Kang Sae-byeok, also called Player 067, in the Netflix hit Squid Game (2021). It was her very first acting role, and it changed her life completely.

Hoyeon is 176 cm (5 ft 9 in) tall, according to her published profile.

Early life

Jung Ho-yeon was born on June 23, 1994, in Seoul, South Korea. She began modelling as a teenager and finished as runner-up on Korea's Next Top Model in 2013. With her red hair and strong walk, she soon worked in Seoul, Paris and New York, walking for famous fashion houses and appearing on magazine covers around the world.

Career and breakthrough

In 2021, Hoyeon sent an audition video for Squid Game while she was in New York for fashion work. She won the role of Kang Sae-byeok, a North Korean defector who joins the deadly games to save her family. The show became the most-watched series in Netflix history at the time, and Hoyeon won a Screen Actors Guild Award for her performance, a rare honour for a first role.

Popular roles

Kang Sae-byeok remains her defining role: quiet, brave and heartbreaking, she became a favourite of fans everywhere. After Squid Game, Hoyeon made a fun cameo in the comedy Chicken Nugget (2024). She then took her first English-language role as Jisoo in the Apple TV+ series Disclaimer (2024), acting alongside Cate Blanchett.

Recent work and why fans love them

Hoyeon is now one of the most followed Korean actresses on Instagram, and she is set to appear in the film Hope. Fans love her honesty, her cool fashion sense and the way she moved from model to award-winning actress with no formal acting training. Every new project she chooses gets worldwide attention.