Jeon Do-yeon has entered the Oscar conversation with Possible Love, director Lee Chang-dong’s Netflix production about labor, inequality and the volatile intersection of two couples living vastly different lives.
The film won the Grand Jury Prize after premiering in Venice, followed by its first North American screenings in Toronto and New York. Now playing in select theaters, it is scheduled to begin streaming on Netflix on Nov. 6.
Its reception has made Possible Love a major international awards contender and placed Jeon in the best-actress race for the first time. As of release day, the film held a 100 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes. Should Jeon ultimately receive an Academy Award nomination, she would become the first person from South Korea ever nominated for best actress.
Jeon, however, is keeping the awards speculation in perspective. “That has never been my goal,” she said. “That has never been something that I coveted.”
Inside Jeon Do-yeon’s ‘Possible Love’ performance
Jeon plays Mi-ok, whose husband, Ho-seok, portrayed by Sul Kyung-gu, has lost his job. Their struggle is set against the wealth of Ye-ji and Sang-woo, played by Cho Yeo-jeong and Zo In-sung.
Ye-ji is an independent filmmaker making a documentary about Ho-seok and his former colleagues, many of whom remain traumatized by their experiences during a mass workers’ strike. While others refuse to participate, Mi-ok agrees to appear on camera and discuss her family’s painful history.
Jeon said she initially felt “apprehensive” about how viewers would receive a character filled with contradictions. She ultimately found common ground with Mi-ok’s strength and positive manner of expressing herself.
“Acting is always going to be this process of finding something within myself that I have, that I wasn’t aware of before,” Jeon said. “Mi-ok is a very strong woman.”
Sul said his long professional history and real-life friendship with Jeon helped shape their work as the movie’s married couple. “We’re also very close friends in real life too, to the point where we feel safe to bring that actual energy to the screen,” he said. “I was just so grateful to have her as my partner.”
Lee Chang-dong had Jeon in mind for the film from the idea’s earliest stages more than a decade ago. Praising her standing and continued growth, he said, “No one could deny that she is the actress who represents an era in Korea. What is remarkable is that, despite so many achievements, she continues to show new possibilities as an actress.”
A career built by pushing past limits
The 53-year-old Seoul native began modeling in her 20s after graduating from Seoul Institute of the Arts. Her first commercial was for Johnson & Johnson, and smaller television parts followed.
Jeon later encountered resistance when making her feature debut in the romantic drama The Contact, learning afterward that some people opposed casting her because she was regarded as a television actor rather than a film actor. She won awards for the performance and continued working in both formats, selecting what she considered the strongest available roles in an industry she described as heavily centered on male characters.
Her credits went on to include You Are My Sunshine, in which she played a former sex worker who tests positive for HIV. The performance earned Jeon the first of her two Grand Bell Awards for best actress.
She first collaborated with Lee Chang-dong on 2007’s Secret Sunshine, playing a young mother overwhelmed by grief. The role brought Jeon the Cannes best actress award, but that international recognition created unexpected complications. She received American audition offers for small action roles despite having limited experience in that genre, while offers at home diminished as she acquired a reputation as a supposedly “difficult actress.”
Jeon followed Secret Sunshine with the smaller-scale My Dear Enemy and then The Housemaid, a revenge drama featuring graphic nudity. She had given birth shortly before filming The Housemaid and was concerned about its demands, but later described the project as liberating.
Her later choices continued to challenge expectations surrounding actresses’ age and appearance in Korea. In the romantic-comedy series Crash Course in Romance, she starred opposite Jung Kyung-ho, who is 10 years younger. Jeon recalled press coverage questioning whether an actress her age could lead a romantic comedy, but said she “didn’t give it a second thought.” The series became a hit, and one retailer reported that a flower-patterned blouse worn by her character helped increase sales of various retro pieces by 60 to 90 percent.
Jeon has also toured with Simon Stone’s Korean-cast stage revival of The Cherry Orchard, traveling from Hong Kong and Singapore to New York earlier this fall. Stone said the production required an extraordinary leading actress and praised Jeon’s ability to turn heartbreaking scenes into hilarious ones.
Lee Byung-hun, who first worked opposite Jeon in the 1999 romance The Harmonium in My Memory, described her position in Korean film as “truly unique and unparalleled.” He added, “I almost find myself wondering why it has taken the rest of the world so long to notice her.”
ShowBiz Take
Possible Love matters not simply because it has put Jeon into an American awards race, but because that attention follows more than three decades of work shaped by challenging parts and resistance to industry expectations. The Venice prize, Netflix rollout and strong critical response have created an international showcase for an actress who has rarely worked outside Korea.
The potential milestone is also clear: Jeon is not yet an Oscar nominee, but recognition from the Academy would make best-actress history for South Korea. Lee Chang-dong believes her layered performance can connect across language barriers and said such recognition would acknowledge both her achievement and changes within the Academy.
What Happens Next?
Possible Love will expand its reach when it begins streaming on Netflix on Nov. 6, while its awards prospects remain unresolved. Jeon is taking something more personal from the experience regardless of the outcome.
“I have gained all that I had ever wanted to gain as an actress through Possible Love,” she said. “I feel like I am going down the right path.”