Shin Min-a
Yang Min-a, better known by the stage name Shin Min-a, is a South Korean actress who began her career as a model before debuting as an actress in 2000. She is known for her leading roles in television dramas A Love to Kill, My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, Arang and the Magistrate, Oh My Venus, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, and Our Blues.
Career
1998–2002: Beginnings as a model and acting debut
Shin began her career as a model for the teen magazine KiKi in 1998, under her birth name, Yang Min-a. Unbeknownst to her, a submitted her to the magazine's model competition, which Shin won. She first made a name for herself starring in commercials for brands such as Samsung and Korea Telecom 018, in which her line "Love moves about" gained popularity amongst Korean youth.Shin started acting by starring in music videos. In 2000, she was cast in the high-budget music video for Jo Sung-mo's "Do You Know", as a Vietnamese girl who falls in love with a Korean soldier during the Vietnam War. Ahead of her film debut in Volcano High, she adopted the stage name Shin Min-a, to avoid confusion with the actress Yang Mi-ra. While Volcano High started production earlier, her first appearance as an actress was in the melodrama Beautiful Days. She took five months of acting lessons in preparation for her role. Regarding it, she stated to The Dong-A Ilbo: "It was a completely different role than my regular image At first, it was awkward, but I'm confident I won't get criticized for 'clumsy acting'."
2003–2011: Rising popularity and breakthrough
In 2003, she took the main role in the college romance movie Madeleine with Zo In-sung. For her role as a hairdresser, she practiced hairdressing for three months before the movie started filming. She then took on her first main TV role as a boxer in the series Punch, training under the wing of the boxer Kim Ju-hee for two months. The drama's director, Lee Hyun-jik, praised her, saying, "Min-a might be a rookie actor, but she's so enthusiastic sometimes we worry someone might get hurt, and she also excels in expressing emotions." Her role earned her a New Star Award at the 2003 SBS Drama Awards.In 2005, she took on a supporting role in Kim Jee-woon's noir film A Bittersweet Life, reuniting her with previous co-star Lee Byung-hun. She then portrayed a deaf character in Sad Movie. This was followed by leading roles in the melodrama A Love to Kill with Rain, romantic comedy series The Beast and the Beauty with Ryoo Seung-bum, and psychological thriller Lucifer with Uhm Tae-woong and Ju Ji-hoon. In the 2007 film My Mighty Princess, Shin simultaneously played two characters. After her travels were documented on the cable channel O'live in 2008, Shin published a book titled Shin Min-a's French Diary in 2009.
2012–2021: Leading roles and international success
In the 2008 film Go Go 70s, Shin played a sexy counterculture singer and won numerous accolades for her portrayal. She then acted as an unfaithful wife in The Naked Kitchen, and a cynical young woman in search of her father in Sisters on the Road, a critically acclaimed indie film which also stars fellow actress and close friend Gong Hyo-jin. But Shin became best known for her portrayals of supernatural horror icons revamped into endearingly innocent yet spunky heroines in the rom-com My Girlfriend Is a Gumiho, and the historical drama Arang and the Magistrate. After appearing in The X, a 2013 spy thriller short film directed by Kim Jee-woon, Shin returned to the big screen in 2014 with Gyeongju, an introspective arthouse romance opposite Park Hae-il. This was followed by the romantic comedy film My Love, My Bride, where she and Jo Jung-suk played a newly married couple; it was a remake of the same-titled 1990 hit that starred Choi Jin-sil and Park Joong-hoon.In 2015, Shin and So Ji-sub were cast in the romantic comedy series Oh My Venus. For her character, an overweight lawyer, Shin underwent a three-hour makeup/prosthetic session every shoot. At the 2015 KBS Drama Awards, Shin won the Excellence Award, the Best Actress in a Miniseries award, and the Best Couple Award with So Ji-sub. She also won the Outstanding Korean Actress award at the 11th Seoul International Drama Awards. In 2016, Shin was cast opposite Lee Je-hoon in the fantasy melodrama Tomorrow, With You, portraying a 30-year-old amateur photographer who finds out that her better half can time travel. The drama was fully pre-produced and premiered in February 2017.
Shin took a break from acting for two years. In 2018, Shin was cast opposite Lee Yoo-young in the mystery film Diva, playing Yi Young, a diver who lost her memory after an accident. The film marks the directorial debut of Cho Seul-ye. It was showcased in the Korean Fantastic features section at the 25th Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival held in July 2021. In 2019, Shin returned to the small screen after three years in the political drama Chief of Staff opposite Lee Jung-jae, as Kang Seon-yeong, a lawyer turned politician. In winter 2019, Shin reprised her role for the second season.
In 2021, Shin reunited with director Yoo Je-won in Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha, starring Kim Seon-ho and Lee Sang-yi. She played the role Yoon Hye-jin, a dentist who moved from the city to open a clinic in the seaside village of Gongjin. It was a remake of 2004 film Mr. Handy, Mr. Hong, which starred Uhm Jung-hwa and Kim Joo-hyuk. The series became a domestic hit with audience ratings peaking at 13.322% and went on to become one of the highest-rated television series on Korean cable television history. Following its release on Netflix, Hometown Cha-Cha-Cha became one of the platform's most-watched non-English television shows. It remained on Netflix's non-English popular television show list for 16 weeks, and reached the top 10 charts in more than 20 countries. It also on Netflix's Top 10 Chart for television shows for more than two months from its last episode. She has also contributed her vocals to several singles and soundtracks.
2022–present:
Shin starred in Noh Hee-kyung's omnibus drama Our Blues. Shin played Min Seon-ah, a divorcee with one child who came to Jeju and met her childhood friend Lee Dong-seok. It premiered on tvN on 9 April 2022.Shin was cast in the movie Our Season in 2020, which released in 2023. The film was her first big screen role in three years after the thriller Diva. Playing a woman whose dead mother gets a "trip from heaven" to visit her, Shin chose to appear in the film because of its heartwarming feel and relatable subject matter. She played against type with a gloomier character, as in her previous project, Our Blues—explaining her choice, she stated that she wanted to play a variety of roles. A writer for the Korean news outlet Dispatch, reviewing the movie, said Shin's performance with Kim Hae-sook was "like seeing a real mother and daughter". The same year Our Season was released, Shin also returned to television with the series No Gain No Love; it began airing in August 2024. In 2024, she received the Good People Artist Award at the 14th Beautiful Artist Award.
Other ventures
Endorsements
Along with Kim Hyo-jin, Kim Min-hee, and, she was considered one of the "four teenage commercial stars", and a representative of the "N generation". She has since become one of the most in-demand and highest paid commercial endorsers in South Korea.Notable among her forays into branded entertainment is the 2008 multi-episode Summer Days opposite Hyun Bin and Ryoo Seung-bum for LG Xnote featuring music by You Hee-yeol, as well as Friends & Love, a movie-style extended advertisement for Giordano in 2011 costarring Jung Woo-sung and So Ji-sub. In 2009, Shin went to Milan, Italy to shoot a photo spread for Elle Korea with Calvin Klein model Jamie Dornan. In 2011, she was chosen as the first Asian model for the DIY Project ad campaign of American clothing brand Rag & bone, and in 2012 was featured in The New York Times' ''T Magazine''.
Shin is a Roger Vivier's Maison ambassador for Korea. On November 11, 2021, she was appointed as Gucci's brand ambassador with Lee Jung-jae.
Philanthropy
In 2015, it was reported that Shin had donated a total of ₩1 billion over the previous seven years through organizations such as the Community Chest of Korea and Good Friends, which assists North Korean defectors. By December 2022, her cumulative donations had surpassed ₩3.3 billion. In that period she donated ₩260 million at year‑end to institutions she supports regularly, including Community Chest of Korea and Asan Medical Center, bringing her total contributions for the year to ₩360 million. By 2025, her donation reached ₩4 billion.In August 2014, she took part in the Ice Bucket Challenge, a fundraising campaign by the U.S. ALS Association aimed at developing treatments for ALS. She has made regular contributions through several charity foundations, including a total of approximately ₩717 million to the Community Chest of Korea by 2015. Since December 2009, Shin has been donating ₩2 million every month, with year-end donations ranging from ₩50 million to ₩100 million. In accordance with her wishes, the donations primarily support children and the elderly in difficult circumstances, covering medical expenses for children with burns, heating costs for the elderly living alone, and education for immigrant children. In February 2020, she contributed ₩100 million to the Community Chest of Korea to support medical staff and vulnerable groups during the COVID-19 pandemic. In recognition of her steady philanthropy, Shin received a Presidential Citation at the 4th Finance Day Commemoration Ceremony on 29 October 2019.Shin's philanthropic efforts also extend to Good Friends, an organization she began supporting in 2010 after meeting them through writer Noh Hee-kyung. According to a Good Friends representative, Shin has donated a total of ₩290 million since 2010, which has been used to support single-parent mothers and children among North Korean defectors, providing essential services such as powdered milk, after-school programs, medical care, and kimchi.
Shin also has made specific donations to help children with illnesses. In October, she participated in the "Ohui Beautiful Face Campaign" and personally delivered a ₩50 million donation to Seoul National University Children's Hospital. In September 2019, she donated ₩50 million to the same hospital. Shin has also been a consistent supporter of the Hallym Burn Foundation since 2015, participating in the "Let's Share the Heart" talent donation campaign in November 2016. She made additional donations of ₩100 million in December 2020, as well as another ₩100 million in December 2021. Shin have been supporting Asan Medical Center since 2018. In December 2021, she donated ₩100 million each to Asan Medical Center and the Korean Developmental Society to support psychological treatment for children affected by prolonged COVID-19 infections.
She has also donated to disaster relief. In May, Shin Min-a donated 100 million won to Nepal earthquake relief efforts via The Korean branch of JTS, an NGO dedicated to eradicating hunger, disease, and illiteracy. In August 2020 she donated ₩50 million to Community Chest of Korea to assist victims of torrential rains. In March 2022, Shin donated to the Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief Association, to help victims of the large wildfires that began in Uljin County and spread to Samcheok. On 8 February 2023, Shin donated to the Hope Bridge Disaster Relief Society to help victims of the 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake. In March 2025, Shin donated to the Korean Red Cross to help wildfire victims in the Ulsan, Gyeongbuk, and Gyeongnam regions. In December 2025, Shin and husband Kim Woo-bin donated ₩300 million through various organizations including the Hallym Burn Foundation, Asan Medical Center, and Good Friends, to support people in difficult circumstances and for medical treatments of low-income families.
In education and other areas of social support, Shin donated ₩50 million in 2010 to help build Korea's first multicultural school in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province.