She Was Pretty


She Was Pretty is a 2015 South Korean television series starring Hwang Jung-eum, Park Seo-joon, Go Joon-hee and Choi Si-won. It aired on MBC from September 16 to November 11, 2015, on Wednesdays and Thursdays at 22:00.
The series was both a hit domestically, with a peak rating of 18.4% and internationally, especially in China.

Synopsis

A romantic comedy, based on a true story, about two past acquaintances who meet again after they've gone through a reversal of fortunes and appearances, set against the backdrop of a fashion magazine's publishing office.
Kim Hye-jin was a beautiful girl from a rich family as a child. After her family's publishing company went bankrupt, she experienced hardships and grew into freckles and curly hair, losing the perfect features she has when she was young. Ji Sung-joon was an unattractive boy with low self-esteem, but grows up to be a handsome and successful editor.
The two meet again as adults, but Sung-joon didn't recognize Hye-jin. Ashamed to meet her first love and ruin his perception of her, Hye-jin asks her attractive best friend, Ha-ri, to appear in her place. Things, however, soon get complicated as Hye-jin was assigned to work at The Most magazine publishing office where Sung-joon is the deputy chief editor. He openly mistreats and belittles her for her clumsy nature, not knowing that she was his real childhood friend. Ha-ri also continues to meet Sung-joon, and soon develops feelings for him. On the other hand, Hye-jin finds a good friend in her workplace, Shin-hyuk, who falls in love with her.
As Sung-joon gets to know Hye-jin better, he realizes there is more to the clumsy freckle-faced girl than he initially thought and it strikes him how much she reminds him of his childhood friend.

Cast

Main

Hye-jin's family

  • Park Choong-sun as Kim Jong-seob, Hye-jin's father who is currently running a small printing house.
  • Lee Il-hwa as Han Jung-hye, Hye-jin's mother who also treats Ha-ri like her own daughter too.
  • Jung Da-bin as Kim Hye-rin, Hye-jin's younger sister who often prefers Ha-ri as her own sister instead of Hye-jin.

    Ha-ri's family

  • Yoon Yoo-sun as Cha Hye-jung, Ha-ri's birth mother and Jung-hye's friend.
  • Lee Byung-joon as Min Yong-gil, Ha-ri's father
  • Seo Jeong-yeon as Na Ji-seon, Ha-ri's stepmother

    People in The Most

  • Hwang Seok-jeong as Kim Ra-ra
  • Shin Dong-mi as Cha Joo-young
  • Ahn Se-ha as Kim Poong-ho
  • Shin Hye-sun as Han Seol
  • Park Yu-hwan as Kim Joon-woo
  • Kang Soo-jin as Joo Ah-reum
  • Cha Jung-won as Jung Sun-min
  • Bae Min-jung as Park Yi-kyung
  • Kim Jung-heon as Se-hoon
  • Im Ji-hyun as Lee Eun-young

    People in Jinsung Magazine

  • Kim Ha-kyoon as Boo Joong-man
  • Jo Chang-geun as Kwang-hee, an employee of the Management team.
  • Jin Hye-won as Lee Seul-bi, an employee of the Management team.

    Special appearances

  • Im Kang-sung as Ha-ri's date
  • Kim Sung-oh as the man at pub
  • Hwang Seok-jeong as the ajumma in the restaurant on
  • Kim Je-dong as The Most 20th Anniversary's party MC
  • Lee Joon-gi as the guest for The Most 20th Anniversary
  • Seo In-guk as the guest for The Most 20th Anniversary
  • Uee as the guest for The Most 20th Anniversary
  • Park Hyung-sik as the guest for The Most 20th Anniversary
  • as interviewee for Editor Kim
  • Kim Bo-min as Ji Yeon-woo, Sung-joon and Hye-jin's daughter

    Production

The first script reading was held on August 10, 2015.
The drama reunited Hwang Jung-eum with Park Seo-joon, who previously starred together in Kill Me, Heal Me; and Hwang Jung-eum with Go Joon-hee, who previously starred together in Listen to [My Heart |Listen to My Heart].

Original soundtrack

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Part 6

Ratings

Awards and nominations

Remake

  • A Turkish remake of the drama, titled Seviyor Sevmiyor was aired in 2016 on ATV .
  • A Chinese remake of the drama, titled Pretty [Li Hui Zhen] started airing on Hunan TV in 2017.
  • A Vietnamese remake of the drama, titled Mối Tình Đầu Của Tôi started airing on VTV3 in 2019.
  • A Japanese remake of the drama, titled Kanojo wa Kirei Datta was aired in 2021 on Fuji TV.
  • A Thai remake of the drama, titled รักวุ่นวายยัยตัวป่วน was aired in 2021 on Channel 3 .
  • A Malaysian remake of the drama, which is also titled She Was Pretty started streaming in 2022 on Viu.