It was in 2005, however, that Kang established herself as a star outside of her appearance in Oldboy. The sharp-edged relationship drama Rules of Dating, in which she starred opposite Park Hae-il, proved to be an unexpected hit, and then two months later she took a small but central role in box office megahit Welcome to Dongmakgol.[2][3][4][5][6] In a 2005 survey of influential movie producers, she was ranked among the top ten most bankable stars.[7]
After playing the developmentally disabled daughter to veteran actress Bae Jong-ok in the 2007 melodramaHerb,[10] in 2009 Kang starred in two unconventional romantic comedies with roles she imbued with her trademark quirkiness. She said she chose Why Did You Come to My House? hoping to "expand the realms" of her lovelorn stalker character; the director said she had written the script with Kang in mind from the beginning.[11][12] In Kill Me, she played a woman who, after several suicide attempts, hires a professional assassin (Shin Hyun-joon) to kill her, but he falls in love with her instead.[13][14]
2009–present: Turn to conventional roles
Kang in 2009
Known for taking risky roles, Kang gradually started going off the predictable path that the public expected her to take. In the 2009 film Girlfriends, she played an ordinary twenty-something girl who goes through growing pains and lovelife troubles when she discovers that her boyfriend is also involved with two other women.[15][16][17] Kang said that this career shift reflects the limited number of interesting scripts that she receives, as well as her calmer, softer state of mind after settling down.[18]
In 2010, Kang appeared in her first stage play Proof, portraying the role of Catherine, who worries whether she has inherited all of her mathematician father's genius and lunacy.[19]
After making the little-seen 2007 KBS drama Flowers for My Life with Cha Tae-hyun, Kang returned to television in 2011 in MBC's Miss Ripley, a tale of one woman (Lee Da-hae) who spins a web of love, ambition and lies.[20][21][22][23] Originally touted as a drama with four lead roles, Kang later expressed dismay and disappointment with her drastically reduced screen time.[24][25]
Kang made her English-language debut in the culture-clash romantic comedy Wedding Palace. Director Christine Yoo reportedly cast Kang after her distinctly Korean beauty in Oldboy and Welcome to Dongmakgol grabbed Yoo's attention.[26] Shot over a one-year period between October 2008 through November 2009,[27] the US-Korea co-production premiered at the 2011 Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival[28] and received the Independent Feature Filmmakers Award at the 2011 Cine Gear Expo.[29]
Kang was next seen in rom-com cable TV series The Wedding Scheme, about a kimchi factory president so determined to marry off her four daughters that she embarks on a grand marriage project by getting her girls to cohabitate with prospective groom candidates. Of her role as the second eldest daughter, a strong and smart career woman, she said, "I've played a lot of nice or innocent characters before, so I think of this as a chance to take on a new challenge."[30]
Kang starred in her second stage play Educating Rita in late 2014, about the relationship between a hairdresser and a middle-aged university lecturer.[33][34] She also played a supporting role in the film How to Steal a Dog.[35]
In 2017, Kang played a psychiatrist in the sci-fi thriller Lucid Dream.[37] She made her return to television in December 2017 with office comedy series Jugglers.[38]
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