On March 25 Bae Doona received the Best Actress Award at the Ninth Asian Film Awards, which took place in Macau. The 35-year-old actress won the award for her work in the film "Girl At My Door," also known as "Do Hee Ya." Bae is only the third Korean actress to win the award.
In the film, Bae plays Inspector Lee Young Nam. Lee meets a teenaged girl named Do Hee, who is being abused by members of her family. Having been demoted at a previous position and thus transferred to the quiet town, Inspector Lee should be wary of making waves but ultimately finds that she must do the right thing.
Before being honored at the Asian Film Awards, Bae Doona's performance earned the actress a Best Actress award at Korea's Chunsa Film Art Awards and Best Actress in a Foreign Film Awards at China's Hundred Flowers and Golden Rooster Awards.
Bae seemed surprised when her name was announced, then expressed her gratitude.
"I'm grateful for getting this honor," she said. "I will keep working hard regardless of borders and locations."
So far, borders have not limited Bae Doona's career. She is one of the few Korean actresses to have become an international star. She has appeared in Korean films and dramas, Japanese films and American films and a drama.
She played an activist's girlfriend in Park Chan Wook's 2002 film "Sympathy For Mr. Vengeance," an archer in Bong Joon Ho's 2006 horror film "The Host" and an inflatable sex doll in the 2009 Japanese film 2009.
That last role led to her being cast as a clone in the Wachowski's 2012 film "Cloud Atlas." She worked on two other projects with the Hollywood producers, a film titled "Jupiter Ascending" and a series titled "Sense 8."
Although Bae Doona worked on a Korean film after her last Hollywood film, she has not appeared in a k-drama since 2010 when she had roles in "Master of Study" and "How To Meet A Perfect Neighbor."
Bae competed for the Best Actress award with actresses Gong Li, Kalki Koechlin, Rie Miyazawa, Tang Wei and Zhao Wei.
The Korean actresses who previously won Best Actress Awards were Jeon Do Yeon in 2008 for the film "Secret Sunshine" and Kim Hye Ja in 2010 for the film "Mother."
Altogether 16 Korean film industry professionals were nominated in 14 categories at the film awards. Bae Doona also presented the Best Newcomer Prize to Zang Huiwen for her performance in the film "Coming Home."
