Jung Ho-yeon (born June 23, 1994) is a South Korean fashion model and actress. In 2013, she placed second - third (double elimination, exact ranking not given) on the fourth season of ’Korea’s Next Top Model’, while a 2015 ’Vogue’ article dubbed her “Korea’s next top model”. In 2018, she was ranked as one of the “Top 50” female fashion models by Models.com. In October 2021, Jung was selected as a global ambassador for Louis Vuitton, the brand she debuted with.
Career
Jung is known for the flame-red hair she had early in her career and “fiery” personality. She started modeling at age 16. She modeled in Seoul Fashion Week without an agent and established herself there before signing to ESteem Models, appearing on Korea’s Next Top Model for public exposure. After Korea’s Next Top Model, she was featured in magazines such as ’Vogue Girl Korea’, ’Nylon Korea’, and ’ELLE Wedding’. She was also featured in a spread for First Look Korea magazine with Shin Hyun-ji and Hwang Hyun-joo, and a campaign for Lucky Chouette.
Jung internationally debuted as a Louis Vuitton exclusive in 2016, also debuting with Opening Ceremony. That season, she also walked for Marc Jacobs, Fendi, Max Mara, Alberta Ferretti, and Rag & Bone. She has walked the runway for Jeremy Scott, Tory Burch, Topshop Unique, Lanvin, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni, Bottega Veneta, Emilio Pucci, Chanel, Miu Miu, Giambattista Valli, Prabal Gurung, Jason Wu, H&M, Jacquemus, Burberry, Acne Studios, Roberto Cavalli, Diesel Black Gold, Versus (Versace), Narciso Rodriguez, Paco Rabanne, Schiaparelli, DSquared2, Blumarine, Tod’s, and Etro, and Gabriela Hearst.
She has appeared in advertisements for Sephora’s “Let’s Beauty Together”, Chanel, Gap, Inc., Hermès, and Louis Vuitton. As a global ambassador of the Louis Vuitton brand, she will model its fashion, jewelry, and watches.
Jung has been on the cover of ’Vogue Japan beauty’, ’Vogue Korea’, ’W Korea’, and ’Harper’s Bazaar Korea’, and Vogue Thailand (alongside American model Amanda Googe, Thai model Jan Baiboon, German model Eliza Kallmann, and Dutch model Sara Dijkink); in addition to appearing in editorials for ’Vogue’, ‘British Vogue’, ’Dazed’, ’Love’ magazine, ’CR Fashion Book’, and ’Into the Gloss’.
In 2017, Models.com selected her as a ‘Top Newcomer’ and ‘Model of the Year’ nominee, respectively.
On January 13, 2020, it was announced that Jung has signed with Saram Entertainment as an actress. On September 17, 2021, Jung made her acting debut with the release of the Netflix series ’Squid Game’.
On October 4, 2021, Jung surpassed Lee Sung-kyung to become the most followed Korean actress on Instagram, with over 13 million followers to date.
According to a report by South Korean publication Single List, which notes that prior to the model-turned-actress’ new role as global ambassador, Jung had walked the runaway for Louis Vuitton’s Spring/Summer 2017 collection.
“It is an honour to mark my beginnings as an actress with Louis Vuitton after having worked with them as a model,” Jung told the outlet, as translated by ’Soompi’. “I’m looking forward to every moment I will experience with Louis Vuitton as their global ambassador.”
Meanwhile, Nicolas Ghesquière, the women’s artistic director of Louis Vuitton, wrote on Instagram that he “immediately fell in love with Ho-yeon’s great talent and fantastic personality”, adding that he is “looking forward to starting this new chapter of the journey we started at Louis Vuitton a few years ago”.
Jung has experienced a huge burst of popularity since her appearance in ’Squid Game’, and recently became the most-followed Korean actress on Instagram. She has seen her following count rise from around 400,000 to over 14.8 million, as at the time of writing.
But even with her overnight success, on top of ’Squid Game’s’ international popularity, Jung said she’s trying not to let it get to her head. “I am well-aware of how much work I have to do and learn to become a better actor,” Jung told ’The Korea Herald’. “I try not to dwell too much on the success of ’Squid Game’.
In other news, Jung previously opened up about how it felt to film the hit Netflix original series. In a recently released behind-the-scenes video, the model-turned-actress said that filming the show was “actually terrifying” at times.
Jung was born in Seoul, South Korea and reportedly has two siblings. Jung graduated from Dongduk Women’s University and majored in modeling. Jung has been in a relationship with actor Lee Dong-hwi since 2016.