Emmy nominee profile: SAG Award winner Jung Ho-yeon (‘Squid Game’) could now add this prize to her mantel
Months after nabbing an individual Screen Actors Guild Award for “Squid Game,” Jung Ho-yeon has now been recognized for her work on the Netflix show in the Emmy category of Best Drama Supporting Actress. The Korean series, on which Jung plays the role of Kang Sae-byeok, constitutes her first television credit. If she triumphs at the 74th Emmys, her debut performance will be the first fully non-English language one ever honored by the TV academy (unless one of her nominated co-stars beats her to the punch).
Jung’s episode submission, “Gganbu,” streamed last September as the sixth installment of the inaugural season of “Squid Game.” It centers on the fourth part of a deadly, winner-take-all contest involving Sae-byeok and 455 other players competing for a massive cash prize. At the start of this particular game, Sae-byeok and her chosen game partner, Ji-yeong (Lee You-mi), are each provided with 10 marbles and told that only the one who finds a way to win the other’s entire set will advance. Before playing a single round that secures Sae-byeok’s survival, the two young women run out the half-hour clock by sharing their past secrets and future plans.
“Squid Game” racked up a total of 14 Emmy nominations for its first season, including one for Best Drama Series and four more acting bids for guest star Lee, supporting men Oh Yeong-su and Park Hae-soo, and lead Lee Jung-jae. The show itself is the most-watched Netflix original program of all time, having amassed 1.65 billion viewing hours in its first four weeks of release. Since setting the record last fall, it has withstood challenges from such popular American series as “Ozark,” “Bridgerton,” and “Stranger Things.”
At 28, Jung ranks among the 20 youngest women to ever contend for the Best Drama Supporting Actress Emmy. If she wins, she will be the category’s fifth youngest champion, after Kristy McNichol (15 and 16, “Family,” 1977 and 1979), Barbara Anderson (22, “Ironside,” 1968), Susan Saint James (22, “The Name of the Game,” 1969) and Julia Garner (25 and 26, “Ozark,” 2019 and 2020). Garner, who is four months older than Jung, has a shot at bagging a third trophy for “Ozark” this year.
Besides Garner and Sarah Snook (“Succession”), those challenging Jung are also new to this supporting category. These other featured first-timers are Patricia Arquette (“Severance”), Christina Ricci (“Yellowjackets”), Rhea Seehorn (“Better Call Saul”), J. Smith-Cameron (“Succession”) and Sydney Sweeney (“Euphoria”). Arquette previously won a Best Drama Actress Emmy for “Medium” in 2005 and a Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress one for “The Act” in 2019. Arquette is also presently nominated as a producer of “Severance,” while Garner, Seehorn and Sweeney have simultaneously earned recognition for their respective work on “Inventing Anna” (Best Movie/Limited Actress), “Cooper’s Bar” (Best Short Form Actress) and “The White Lotus” (Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress).
This article is part of Gold Derby’s “Emmy nominee profile” series spotlighting the 2022 acting contenders.
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