Choi Ji-woo stepped into the world of acting a year after becoming the winner of an MBC-organised talent audition in 1994. She made her acting debut in 1995 on the MBC-aired television series, ‘War and Love’ in a supporting role. A short time after the release of the first series, the later acting journey of Ji-woo witnessed her being credited with the adopted stage name Choi Ji-woo.

On 21 September 1996, she made her film debut in the comedy-drama, ‘The Adventures of Mrs Park’ by Tae-gyun Kim in the lead role of Eun-jin. In the same year, she was featured in the South Korean hit romantic television series, ‘First Love’, one of the lead casts Kang Seok-hee.

The very next year, Ji-woo starred as Su-jin in the 1997 South Korean film, ‘The Hole’, directed by Kim Sung-hong, which earned her Best New Actress award at the 21st Golden Cinematography Awards and Best New Actress Film award at the 34th Baeksang Arts Awards in 1998.

Choi Ji-woo continuously went on to perform in television series and films one after the other for a decade. These included the South Korean television series, ‘Love’, ‘Love In 3 Colours’, ‘Love Story’, ‘Mr. Duke’, which won her Excellence Award, ‘Stairway to Heaven’, and ‘101st Proposal’. Some of her films in the 10 consecutive years included ‘First Kiss’, ‘Nowhere to Hide’, ‘The romantic president’, ‘Everybody Has Secrets’, ‘Shadowless Sword’ and ‘Now and Forever’.

Although she has been working since 1995, she garnered considerable attention and popularity as an actor only after performing a role in the television series, ‘Truth’ in 2000 and ‘Beautiful Days’ in 2001, which fetched her two Awards.

Her acting breakthrough came in 2002, with the hit South Korean television series, ‘Winter Sonata’, starring together with actor Bae Yong-joon in the lead role of Jeong Yoo-jin, which remains the most celebrated and extraordinary role of her career as yet.

Choi Ji-woo gained pan-Asian recognition with her brilliant performances in the first Chinese television drama, ‘101st Proposal’ as Li Shao Rong in 2004 and in ‘Rondo’ as Choi Yoon-ah in the Japanese drama in 2006. Her popularity rose to new heights.

Continuing with the astounding actor Ji-woo’s notable roles in South Korean series and films, she played a lead role in the 2006 South Korean film, ‘Now and Forever’, by Kim Seong-joong. Her next film came years after the 2009 film, ‘Actresses’, which is considered her most notable film so far. Television series, ‘Star’s Lover’, based on a love story between an actress and an ordinary man in 2008, and ‘Winter Sonata Anime’ by Yoon Seok-ho in 2009 are on the top lists of her hit series.

She smashed a record again with her title role as Park Bok-nyeo, who is a mysterious housekeeper in the 2013 South Korean television drama, ‘The Suspicious Housekeeper’, based on a 2011 Japanese drama ‘Kaseifu no Mita’.

In February 2014, the promising actor Choi Ji-woo signed with South Korean entertainment company YG Entertainment. She was featured in the South Korean romantic television series ‘Temptation’ by Park Young-soo in the same year, in the lead role, along with Kwon Sang-woo, Lee Jung-jin and Park Ha-sun in the lead role.

The ensuing years witnessed her perform in other television series including ‘Twenty Again’ in 2015, ‘First Seven Kisses’ in 2016, ‘Woman with a Suitcase’ in 2016 and the romantic comedy film ‘Like for Likes’ in 2016.

Over the years, Ji-woo also appeared as a guest in a few Japanese and South Korean variety shows, ‘2 Days & 1 Night’ in 2011, ‘Choi Ji-woo’s Delicious Korea’ in 2012, ‘Running Man’ in 2012, ‘Hanamaru Market’ in 2004, ‘Infinite Challenge’ in 2007 and ‘Three Meals a Day’ in 2014.

She was a cast member and host of the shows, ‘Grandpas Over Flowers’ in 2015 and ‘Candy in My Ears’ Season 2’ in 2017.

‘Shooting Stars’ in 2020 is the latest television series of Ji-woo as of 2023. Whereas, her upcoming film is ‘New Normal’. However, no information available about her upcoming film is available as of 2023.