Ra Mi-ran (라미란)

Recognized by the Baeksang Arts Awards and the South Korean government for her scene-stealing scenes as a supporting actor, Ra Mi-ran deserves every award she got and more. In fact, in recent years, she earned accolades as a lead actor from the Blue Dragon Film Awards.

Photo from HanCinema

Birthday: March 6, 1975

Her eponymous character and her family in the hit series Reply 1988 (2015) are part of a small but tightly knit Ssangmun-dong neighborhood. The mother of Jung-bong and Jung-hwan, she worries about Jung-bong's heart illness and academic shortcomings and comes off as ill-tempered. However, she is fun-loving, hilariously auditioning for a famous talent show as the "Singing Cheetah."

A prolific actress in theater, movies and TV, Ra Mi-ran the actor made her film debut in 2005 in Lady Vengeance, co-written and directed by Park Chan-wook. Seven years and almost 20 films later, she was nominated as Best Supporting Actress for her role as Myung-ae, the female lead’s best friend and hairstylist in the movie Dancing Queen (2012).

Going beyond the silver screen, she graced Season 1 of the k-variety show Sister’s Slam Dunk. Along with five other members, she debuted in the girl group Unnies and released the single “Shut Up” in July 2016.

2021 was a big year for her. Winning her first Best Actress award in the recent 41st Blue Dragon Film Awards for the comedy Honest Candidate (2020), she starred as Joo sang-sook, a politician running for a fourth term in Congress, but is suddenly unable to lie days before the election.

Before that, she won numerous Best Supporting Actress awards: in the 34th Blue Dragon Film Awards for Hope (2013), in the 52nd Baeksang Arts Awards for The Himalayas (2015), and in the 53rd Daejong Film Awards for The Last Princess (2016).

She played a school department head in Black Dog (2019), portrayed Sa mo-rim in the comedy Dr. Park’s Clinic (2022), and reprised her comedic role in Honest Candidate 2 (2022). Unfortunately, her fantasy film Hi.5 for release this year has been indefinitely postponed. Her fans nevertheless look forward to her upcoming workplace TV series Cruel Intern and slice-of-life comedy drama Good Bad Mother.

Her latest work finds her as a housewife literally going back to work in 2023's Cruel Intern.