Using the stage name Choo Ja-hyun, she began her entertainment career as a model at age 17. She made her acting debut in 1996, and went on to appear in several television series, among them Successful Story of a Bright Girl, Sunrise House, and Apgujeong House. Then after a decade in relative obscurity, Choo drew critical acclaim in 2006 for her portrayal of a ravaged drug addict in Bloody Tie, a film noir about the meth trade in 1990s Busan. She won acting recognition from the Grand Bell Awards, the Korean Film Awards, and the Director's Cut Awards, as well as nominations from the Blue Dragon Film Awards and the Baeksang Arts Awards. She was then cast in the eroticperiod dramaPortrait of a Beauty, based on Lee Jung-myung's novel Painter of the Wind which reimagined Joseon artist Shin Yun-bok as a woman disguised as a man. Portrait of a Beauty became the 8th best-selling Korean film of 2008, and Choo again received supporting actress nominations for playing a gisaeng who entertains noblemen by performing dances and poetry readings. This was followed by Missing, a slasher film in which Choo's character is determined to find her younger sister, who's been abducted by a psychopath farmer who rapes and murders young women. She starred in Loveholic in 2010, a character-driven romance drama directed by Kwon Chil-in. Choo played a self-destructive woman with a drinking problem and professional crises; she goes to stay at her friend's house until she sorts out her life, then has an affair with the latter's cuckolded husband. Choo next appeared in The Famished, a 27-minute short film about stage actors who eat their own memories to satisfy their hunger; it was included in the omnibusShort! Short! Short! 2010: Fantastic Theater.
China
Choo had begun building her pan-Asian profile when she appeared in the 2003 Taiwanese dramaScent of Love, which ranked number one in the ratings when it aired in Taiwan. Despite almost a decade of acting experience in her homeland, Choo later said she decided to launch her career in China for practical reasons, "I did not have a choice. Acting is my trade, and I have to act to make a living, but in Korea the work was not steady enough for a stable income." She was cast as Du Chun's leading lady in The Legend of the Banner Hero, adapted from Taiwanese novelist Gu Long's wuxia novel of the same title. It was filmed in 2005, and aired in 2007. In late 2007, Choo was part of the main cast of another Gu Long adaptation, The Legend of Chu Liuxiang. But it was her leading role as a betrayed wife in revenge melodramaThe Temptation to Go Home, a 2011 remake of Korea's Temptation of Wife, that catapulted Choo into stardom in Mainland China and made her one of the most sought-after Hallyu stars there. Fluent in Chinese and English, Choo has since relocated to Beijing and concentrated on her acting career in China, with occasional forays in Korean cinema. Her name is rendered in Chinese as Qiu Cixuan. When Choo appeared in a semi-nude hanbokphoto shoot for a Chinese magazine in 2011, she was criticized by Korean netizens for "damaging the national costume's image." Because of the controversy, she closed down her Twitter account and is instead active on the Chinese microblogging platformWeibo. Choo's old nude photos were also leaked to Chinese websites that year; her Chinese agency said the photos had been taken for personal reasons and threatened legal action against those circulating them. She continued playing lead roles in Chinese television dramas of various genres, such as Wipe Out the Bandits of Wulong Mountain, Turbulence of the Mu Clan, Hu Xian, Legend of Southwest Dance and Music, Xiu Xiu's Men, and Gorgeous Workers.
