Jeon Jong-seo

Jeon Jong-seo (born July 5, 1994), also known as Rachel Jun, is a South Korean actress. She rose to fame with the role of Hae-mi in the 2018 acclaimed South Korean thriller Burning and has won Best Actress at the 57th Baeksang Arts Awards for her performance in the thriller The Call (2020). Internationally, she is best known for her role as Tokyo in Money Heist: Korea – Joint Economic Area (2022). Early life Jeon Jong-seo was born in Seoul, the only child in the family. Jeon and her family moved to Canada when she was a child. She attended a private Christian middle school in Canada, then returned to Korea and graduated from Anyang Arts High School. After high school, she attended Sejong University majoring in film. Later, she unenrolled from university to pursue her acting career more freely. Career Jeon Jong-seo started her acting career after she joined a management agency and attended her first audition in August 2017, for director Lee Chang-dong's mystery flick Burning. An inexperienced actor without any history in the entertainment industry, Jeon won the competition and landed the lead role at her very first audition, to play alongside recognized actors like Yoo Ah-in and Steven Yeun. Jeon initially did not seek the role of free-spirited Hae-mi in Burning because she thought she had no chance of getting it. The audition took place only three days after she joined her current talent agency. Director Lee Chang-dong said about her audition, "When I saw her, she seemed to have this very childlike sense of innocence, but at the same time, she carried this sense of duality — as if something much bigger was on the other side of that innocence. So I thought she would be great to give Hae-mi the presence that is so central for the film — conveying that inner depth that this character has." And, "Perhaps I was unconsciously drawn to the fact that everything was a 'first time' for her. Also, she has a face that makes people wonder what she's feeling and thinking. I think that made her a good fit for Haemi's character." Lee also said that although the dance scene was in the screenplay, the dance movements were not planned or being rehearsed, but rather Jeon's spontaneous movements. Burning premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2018, where Jeon walked the red carpet.