Our spotlight series continues, this week with Jang Nara. Jang Nara is currently starring in the successful SBS drama An Empress’s Dignity, and has already won an SBS Best Actress award for her performance as a naive musical actress who finds herself married to the Emperor of the Korean Empire. The role showcases what Jang Nara does best: cute and innocent at first glance, but when threatened or wronged, full of spunk and fighting spirit. Jang Nara is famous for the sweet girlish quality that she brings to her roles, and it’s to her credit that she brings this flavor while also making each of her characters distinctive and three-dimensional.
Born in 1981 in Seoul, South Korea, Jang Nara debuted in 2001 as a singer. Her debut solo release did not perform as well as expected, and it wasn’t until she starred in her first acting role that her career — both as a singer and actor — took off. Since that time, Jang Nara has not only released several albums and singles (sometimes for her dramas’ OSTs), but has had a strong acting career in South Korean dramas and films. She’s also equally active in China, with an impressive number of Chinese productions on her resume.
Here are some dramaland highlights from Jang Nara, followed by her full filmography.
Fated to Love You (2014)
Zany rom-com at its best. Jang Nara and Jang Hyuk play a budding artist and a crazy chaebol respectively, who had an accidental one night stand (it’s complicated). While brimming with the usual rom-com stunts, Fated to Love You was both entertaining and funny. Jang Hyuk played his best loud and ridiculous hero with a raucous (and rather unforgettable) laugh, and Jang Nara was in prime form as the sweet but spunky heroine who had a lot on her plate. (Also, she looks adorable in glasses!) Second leads, crazy antics, and chaebol family problems were only the beginning. Fated to Love You is also where we got to experience Jang Nara and Choi Jin-hyuk on the screen together — they worked so well as a pair that they wound up starring in current drama An Empress’s Dignity. Sometimes the drama gods really do listen!
I Remember You (2015)
I Remember You (a.k.a. Hello Monster) was a well-received crime and psychological drama starring Seo In-gook and Jang Nara. Seo In-gook played a genius profiler who joined the special unit that Jang Nara’s character was a part of. Throughout much of this drama, there was a lot going on beneath the surface and in the past. This drama was the first time I had seen Jang Nara in a more serious and dark role, and I have to be honest: I like her better as bubbly and baby-faced than I do with a handgun and emotional baggage. Park Bo-gum and Choi Won-young, in equally dark and complex roles, were also great here, but of course the show belonged to Seo In-gook.
Go Back Spouses (2016)
An Empress’s Dignity (2018)
Where, oh where, to start when talking about this drama? It’s a prime example of how a drama can sound one way on paper — and then become something totally different in execution. The word makjang and An Empress’s Dignity have said in the same breath since the drama first aired, and its outrageous antics don’t seem to be letting up at all. Jang Nara plays a musical actress who’s a little…on the naive side, shall we say? When the (yes, fictional) Emperor of Korea (played by Shin Sung-rok) swoops in and asks for her hand in marriage, what’s an Emperor fangirl to do but say yes and pack her bags for the palace? Of course, things are not what they seem, and the palace is about ten times worse than your standard evil chaebol corporation. Murder, spies, mistresses, secret children, secret passageways, secrets pasts, and also Choi Jin-hyuk as the hero. This drama sucks you in with the power of the much-PPL’d Dyson vacuum, so once you start watching, there’s no escaping. Even if you want to. This is not exactly what I had in mind when I was looking forward to the Jang Nara/Choi Jin-hyuk re-pairing, but I can’t say I’m not enjoying it.
Jang Nara’s full filmography: