SEOUL, Oct. 2 (Yonhap) -- Choi Jin-sil, who first caught the eye of South Korean audience as an attractive 20-year-old starlet in 1988, spent the following 20 years transforming as an actress and working her way into the hearts of people around the country.

Born in Seoul on December 24, 1968, Choi grew up poor as her family struggled to
make ends meet. During her adolescence, she had little contact with her father
after her parents divorced.
She rocketed to stardom with her appearance in television commercials for a video
tape recorder made by Samsung, shot at the end of the 1980s. She played a
newlywed bride in the ad, and became famous for the catchphrase, "What a man does
is up to his wife."
Choi became a youth icon along with popular TV actor Choi Su-jong in 1992, who
co-starred in a TV soap opera "Jealousy" about lovers' tug-of-war.
Despite her professional success, Choi's personal life was troubled in later
years. Her manager Bae Byung-soo was killed by Choi's driver in 1994, and Choi
was called to testify in the case. In 2000, Choi married Cho Sung-min, then one
of the country's top baseball players, but separated in 2002. Their marriage
ended in an ugly divorce in 2004. They had two children together.