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O Mi-ran
O Mi-ran (Korean: 오미란; 28 August 1954 – 27 June 2006) was a North Korean actress. Originally a dancer at the Pyongyang Art Troupe (now the Mansudae Art Troupe), she started acting in 1979, appearing in films like A Broad Bellflower and The Nation and Destiny, winning the Best Acting Award at the 1st and 2nd Pyongyang International Film Festival, and gaining a national reputation as a cinema star. BiographyShe was born on 28 August 1954 in Ot'an-dong in Chung-guyok, Pyongyang.[1] Her father O Hyang-mun was an actor from Jeongok-eup, a town in Yeoncheon County (now in South Korea), with a North Korean defector connected to the cinema of North Korea informing Yonhap News Agency that the younger O had originally suffered prejudice due to her South Korean ancestry.[2] She also had several siblings, including actress O Gum-ran.[3] After she was educated at the National Theater Company Actors' Training Institute,[1] she joined the Pyongyang Art Troupe (now the Mansudae Art Troupe) as a dancer in 1972.[3][4] Afterwards, she joined the April 25 Film Studio in 1979 and started working in acting, with her debut in Gun Salute (1980).[1] She later starred as Song Rim in the 1987 film A Broad Bellflower and appeared in the 1990 film Traces of Life, for which she won the Best Acting Award at the 1st and 2nd Pyongyang International Film Festival, respectively.[3][1] She also appeared in the films Morning Star (1983), A Life Full of Ups and Downs (1989-1990), The Nation and Destiny (1999-2000), and Their Life Continues (2002).[3][4][1] In 1990, she won Best Korean Actress in 1st New York Inter-Korean Film Festival.[3] Following the start of her film career, she subsequently became well known as a film star in the country,[5] and she reportedly had as much monthly living expenses as the average North Korean general.[6] She was named Merited Actress in 1984 and People's Actress in 1987.[1] Yonhap News Agency called her "North Korea's top actress",[3] with the Choson Film Yearbook calling her "a comrade who kindly guides the audience to the film world by her elegant and delicate expression, clear voice, and passion."[4][3] Outside of the country, North Korean defectors consider her "the first North Korean star.[1] She was married to a painter since 1982.[1] In 2007, Bradley K. Martin said that she was rumoured in the Pyongyang elite to have been among the mistresses kept by Kim Jong-il.[7] O Mi-ran died on 27 June 2006 from cancer; she was 52.[1][3] She was interred at the Patriotic Martyrs' Cemetery,[4] with Kim Jong Il himself giving her grave a wreath in her memory.[3] Filmography
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