Then And Now: High School Photos Of Netflix’s “The Glory” Actors Compared To Their Younger Counterparts

Netflix‘s K-Drama The Glory gained popularity at the beginning of the year for its intense storyline of a once-bullied woman seeking revenge upon her childhood perpetrators. The actors were praised for their exceptional performances, but do their childhood photos bear resemblance to their characters in the show?

Let’s look at some of The Glory‘s actors and their past photos.

The Glory shows the protagonist Moon Dong Eun in her current state as a revenge-seeking adult and in the past as a helpless victim of abuse from her high school classmates—and actress Song Hye Kyo played this role spectacularly.

Song Hye Kyo’s childhood photos amazed netizens and proved she was beautiful since birth.

When Song Hye Kyo was a third-year student at Sookmyung Girls’ Middle School in 1996, she won first place in the Smart School Uniform Model Contest, which catapulted her into her acting career. Two years later, she became famous with the television series Soonpoong Clinic.

These are more photos of a young Song Hye Kyo and her high school photo.

Actress Jung Ji So played the younger version of Moon Dong Eun.

Speaking of being adorable since birth, Jung Ji So also had an adorable past as a child actress.

She is not only famous for her role in the Oscar-winning film Parasite but for showing her singing talents in MBC‘s reality show Hangout With Yoo and for having experience in ice skating.

How similar is Jung Ji So and high schooler Song Hye Kyo?

Now let’s take a look at Moon Dong Eun’s primary target, Park Yeon Jin, a character meant to be hated; she is the unofficial leader of her bullying group of friends, abuses Dong Eun and many other victims, manipulates her friends and husband, and is evil all around.

Actress Lim Ji Yeon successfully plays this role by not only appearing evil and a bit insane at the same time. While attending college, she participated in many short films and plays; then, she appeared on the big screen in 2014 when she played the role of a mistress in the movie Obsessed.

Her past, however, is not so evil. Childhood photos of Lim Ji Yeon surfaced and revealed that she was cute and a bit silly.

Her round shape and features differ from the image the actress has maintained since her debut. When this graduation photo first spread around the online communities, her agency stated that after checking with Lim Ji Yeon herself, the picture was not her but someone “of the same name.” They also said they would release her actual graduation photos soon; however, many years later, no graduation photos were released. Meanwhile, a netizen who claimed to be her classmate testified that the released photo is indeed Lim Ji Yeon’s graduation photo.

Yeon Jin’s younger self was played by actress Shin Ye Eun, who also did a phenomenal job of acting evil.

Unlike her malicious character in The Glory, she is beautiful inside and out. Shin Ye Eun debuted in the web drama A-Teen in 2018 and became so popular that she was known as Jun Ji Hyun among teens. Since then, she has signed with JYP Entertainment and shown various sides of herself through her acting.

Let’s look at Shin Ye Eun’s past photos as well.

How much does Shin Ye Eun resemble the younger self of Lim Ji Yeon?

Also in Yeon Jin’s bullying group of friends is Choi Hye Jeong, a character who wants to fit in with her rich friends but is often looked down upon because her parents own a dry cleaner.

Hye Jeong is played by actress Cha Joo Young who started her acting career a bit later than others. Ever since she was young, she was studious and even graduated from high school early. She majored in business at the prestigious University of Utah and started acting in her mid-20s despite her father’s strong opposition.

Knowing how to speak English, Japanese, Chinese, and French, she has both beauty and brains. No high school photos of Cha Joo Young are available, but there are photos of when she was young.

The high school version of Cha Joo Young’s character, Hye Jeong, is played by actress Song Ji Woo.

Song Ji Woo debuted in 2019 with the K-Drama Blessing of the Sea. Although there are no high school photos of Cha Joo Young to compare with, there is definitely a resemblance between Song Ji Woo and Cha Joo Young now.

When watching The Glory, it’s easy to be captivated by the actors’ performances and fall deep into the story to the point where the characters seem real to us. However, that means that these actors are extraordinary at their jobs! Their childhood photos show us that before they were Dong Eun, Yeon Jin, or Hye Jeong, they were talented people working hard to get to where they are now—and we cannot wait to see them in part 2 of The Glory!