Five Fun Facts About Han Hye Rin

You may recognize Han Hye Rin as the tragic concubine Lady Pak on "Empress Ki." It is her murder, among other injustices, that prompts Ha Ji Won's character Seungnyang to become powerful enough to exact her revenge.

Han Hye Rin's role in that 50-episode drama was brief but significant.

Now that the actress has set aside her Joseon-era robes, she will don a high school uniform for the film "The Girl's Grave." She will play school leader Hyeon Ji in the film about a girl who is bullied to death. Her film co-stars include Kim So Eun, recently in "After School" and Kang Ha Neul, who recently appeared in "The Heirs."

1. Han Hye Rin's first film was a short movie titled "Witch Kim Gwang Ja," also known as "My Witch Girl." In that drama she played a young witch girl who transfers to a school with mortals.

2. Her first k-drama role was a secretary-turned-lawyer in "The Lawyers of the Great Republic of Korea." She acknowledges that playing Geum Ra Ra in the 2011 drama "New Tales of Gisaeng" was a turning point in her brief career. The drama, which earned ratings of more than 20 percent, followed the lives of people associated with a gisaeng house frequented by VIPs.

"'New Tales of Gisaeng' is a drama which I very much appreciated," she said. "It solidified my dream of becoming an actress and helped me to understand the enthusiasm and sincerity required by an actor."

3. Many of Han Hye Rin's parts before Lady Park tended to be bright and cheerful, which is close to her own personality. Playing the tragic Lady Park was not only difficult because it was a historical role but because the concubine was such a subdued and tragic character.

4. She won older fans by playing Mugunghwa. Because of her role as Mugunghwa in the daily drama "My One and Only" she acquired plenty of fans from her mother's generation. In that drama she played a girl who had grown up with everything but lacked common sense.

"The audience of my mother's generation really liked me in that drama," she said. "When we shot in a hospital, the patients unanimously applauded for me and that deeply touched me."

5. Some have called her early success a Cinderella story, but Han Hye Rin says that there is no magic involved. She has worked hard to achieve her success and never rests if she can help it. Her goal is to bring hope to her audience.

"If my acting can make the audience happy or inspire people, that's meaningful to me," she said.