7 best Song Hye Kyo movies showcasing actress’ riveting skills: My Brilliant Life, Hwang Jin Yi, and more

Discover the 7 best Song Hye Kyo movies you can check out on your next streaming session. From My Brilliant Life to A Reason to Live, these films showcase the star's phenomenal acting skills

Updated on Apr 22, 2024  |  08:30 PM IST |  369.4K
My Brilliant Life and Hwang Jin Yi posters: 815 Pictures, CJ Entertainment
My Brilliant Life and Hwang Jin Yi posters: 815 Pictures, CJ Entertainment

Song Hye Kyo’s movies are often characterized as critically acclaimed for their nuanced storytelling, which serves as commentaries on many intricate genres. This award-winning actress is one of the top actresses currently ruling the Korean film and TV industry. She has established a prolific career spanning over two decades, often earning the moniker of a Hallyu (Korean wave) star revered for both her evergreen beauty and meticulous acting skills. 

Though she is mostly known for her globally popular K-dramas like The Glory, Descendents of the Sun, and more, over the years, the actress has advanced in her career through an array of diverse roles in acclaimed films. Consistently delving into a variety of genres, she has created a new standard as an artist, that is achieved by only a few.

List of 7 best seat-gripping Song Hye Kyo movies

Today, let’s check out 7 best films starring Song Hye Kyo, that will make you fall in love with her even more.

1. My Brilliant Life

  • Cast: Song Hye Kyo, Kang Dong Won, Cha Eun Woo
  • Director: E J Yong
  • Runtime: 1 hour 57 minutes
  • Release Date: September 3, 2014

My Brilliant Life depicts the tearjerking story of Dae Soo (Kang Dong Won) and Mi Ra (Song Hye Kyo), who became parents in their teenage, giving birth to a boy with a rare genetic disorder of premature aging. When their son Ah Reum turns 16, he experiences an appearance like an aged person, feeling sick and feeble all the time.

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Gradually, he comes to terms with the fact that he might not live to see his 18th birthday. As a coping mechanism, he chooses to write about his parents' love story, wishing to gift them on his next 17th birthday. In the meantime, Dae Soo and Mi Ra grapple with paying bills for their son’s medication.

Song Hye Kyo doesn’t fail to bring tears to the viewers’ eyes with her emotive performance and realistic portrayal of a struggling mother’s bittersweet fate.


2. The Crossing

  • Cast: Song Hye Kyu, Zhang Ziyi, Takeshi Kaneshiro
  • Director: John Woo
  • Runtime: 2 hours 9 minutes
  • Release Date: December 2, 2014

Song Hye Kyo is known as a global actress whose film transcends languages and nations. Hence, it’s no surprise she was able to bag a role in a critically acclaimed Chinese film. The Crossing is a historical romance based on the true stories of the tragic Taiping steamer sinking incident in 1949. The Chinese star-studded film features the Korean actress personifying the widow of General Lel Yi.

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Through her character Zhou Yun Fen, she delivers an astounding performance, having a strong grasp of the character’s emotions. In addition, she manages to perfectly deliver lines in Mandarin, earning compliments in the Chinese film landscape.


3. The Grandmaster

  • Cast: Song Hye Kyo, Tony Leung Chiu Wai, Zhang Ziyi
  • Director: Wong Kar Wai
  • Runtime: 2 hours 20 minutes
  • Release Date: January 8, 2013

The Grandmaster is an internationally famed film by the acclaimed Chinese director Wong Kar Wai. Set in the backdrop of the 1930s, the film is partially based on the story of the real-life martial arts legend IP man, played by the famous Tony Leung Chiu Wai. 

Song Hye Kyo takes on the role of his wife Cheung Wing Sing, exhibiting commendable acting skills that can synchronize with any character beyond genres and languages.


4. A Reason to Live

  • Cast: Song Hye Kyu, Nam Ji Hyun, Song Chang Eui
  • Director: Lee Jeong Hyang
  • Runtime: 1 hour 59 minutes
  • Release Date: October 27, 2011
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A deft piece of work by the director Lee Jeong Hyang, A Reason to Live captures Song Hye Kyo’s finesse through the character of Da Hae, a documentary filmmaker who loses her fiancé in a hit-and-run accident. When the offender turns out to be barely a 15-year-old, she is forced to reassess her emotions to revoke the kid’s death row sentence. However, when the teenager commits another heinous crime, the catholic filmmaker starts questioning her belief. 


5. Make Yourself at Home

  • Cast: Song Hye Kyo, Athena Currey
  • Director: Soopum Sohn
  • Runtime: 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Release Date: November 25, 2010

Song Hye Kyo broadened her horizons with this American indie film. Initially titled Fetish, this film presents the actress as Sookhy, a Korean immigrant with a sordid past, living in the New Jersey Suburb. When her obsession with the next-door married caucasian couple rapidly grows, she finds herself in splits, haunted by her bygone days.


6. Hwang Jin Yi

  • Cast: Song Hye Kyo, Yoo Ji Tae, Ryu Seung Ryong, Youn Yuh Jung
  • Director: Chang Yoon Hyun
  • Runtime: 2 hours 21 minutes
  • Release Date: June 6, 2007

Hwang Jin Yi offered Song Hye Kyo a chance to break free from the usual “too-cute” image. In this film, the actress portrays the titular character who is born as a noblewoman. However, her life turns upside down when she finds the truth of being an illegitimate daughter from a lower-class family.

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Coerced into an isolated life, Hwang Jin Yi rises to be the most famous courtesan in Korea, adored for her timeless beauty and bewitching charm. Despite the fame, she barely manages to escape the life of loneliness, meeting a tragic end.


7. My Girl and I

  • Cast: Song Hye Kyo, Cha Tae Hyun
  • Director: Jeon Yun Su
  • Runtime: 1 hour 35 minutes
  • Release Date: December 22, 2005

My Girl and I was the silver screen debut of Song Hye Kyo. Adapted from the 2001 Japanese film Crying Out Love, In the Center of the World, this romantic drama features Song Hye Kyo as Bae Su Eun. Starting from the present day, the movie soon transports viewers back to when she was a high schooler. In a swift turn of events, she saves the life of Kim Su Ho (played by Cha Tae Hyun).

As the duo grow on each other, desperately falling in love, jealousy ensues between their classmates. But it is when So Eun’s secret is revealed, that their unbreakable love falls apart. 

Song Hye Kyo went on to earn a Best New Actress nomination at the 2006 Baeksang Arts Awards for her laudable presence in this emotionally charged romance. 


Song Hye Kyo's movies are considered a better exhibition of her diverse acting skills. With her latest works like The Glory, she continues to thrive higher in the realm of the Korean film and TV industry, consistently setting new standards for her contemporaries. From a neatly polished revenge tale to melodramas, she can grab the spotlight in any kind of narrative, proving why she is one of the top actresses out there.

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ALSO READ: Kim Soo Hyun-Kim Ji Won’s Queen of Tears cast and crew in talks to go on reward vacation after finale; Report

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About The Author

An entertainment junkie and a big cinephile. She has a passion for cultivating compelling and impactful stories for her

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Credits: 815 Pictures, CJ Entertainment
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