'Squid Game' star Jung Ho-yeon becomes the most-followed South Korean actress on Instagram

Jung Ho-yeon in Squid Game
Jung Ho-yeon (right) and Lee Yoo-mi in 'Squid Game'. (Image credit: Netflix)

Squid Game star Jung Ho-yeon is now the most-followed Korean actress on Instagram.

Thanks in no small part to her breakout performance in Squid Game, which is on track to become to become Netflix's biggest show ever, Jung's popularity on the social media platform has skyrocketed.

After the show was released on Sept. 17, Jung Ho-Yeon's follower count rose from around 400,000 followers to over 10 million within just two weeks and that number has continued to climb ever since! Currently, she has more than 13 million followers, at the time of writing. 

This means the 27-year-old model and actor has surpassed Lee Sung-kyung, another popular Korean model and actress who has appeared in Korean dramas like Cheese in the Trap, Weightlifting Fairy Kim Bok-joo, and Dr Romantic 2. Sung-kyung currently has 12.9 million Instagram followers.

Song Hye-kyo, star of Descendants of the Sun and Encounter. Song Hye-kyo currently has just over 12 million followers right now, making her the third most-followed South Korean actress on the platform. 

Jung Ho-yeon plays Kang Sae-byeok in Squid Game. She is a North Korean defector who joins the contest to try and win enough money to help the rest of her family leave the country. She also wants the money to try and help her younger brother who is currently in an orphanage in Seoul.

If you've somehow not heard of it, Squid Game is a Korean thriller series that sees 456 everyday people who are desperate for money competing in a mysterious contest to try and win a life-changing cash prize worth 45.6 million won.

To be in with a chance, the contestants must take part in huge versions of children's games like Red Light, Green Light... but there's a catch: these games are far from the ones they might have played when they were younger.

It soon becomes clear to everyone that they're risking their lives by taking part in Squid Game, as elimination actually means death. 

All nine episodes of Squid Game are available to stream on Netflix right now.

Martin Shore
Staff Writer at WhatToWatch.com

Martin is a Staff Writer with WhatToWatch.com, where he produces a variety of articles focused on the latest and greatest films and TV shows. 

Some of his favorite shows are What We Do In The Shadows, Bridgerton, Gangs of London, The Witcher, Doctor Who, and Ghosts. When he’s not watching TV or at the movies, Martin’s probably still in front of a screen playing the latest video games, reading, or watching the NFL.