South Korea’s Veteran Actress Kang Soo-Youn Dies At 55

South Korea’s iconic movie star Kang Soo-Youn died over the weekend. She was 55.

The actress, who brought home the nation’s first trophy from the Venice Film Festival, died Saturday - two days after she was taken to the hospital in southern Seoul, The Korea Herald reported. Kang died from a cerebral hemorrhage following a cardiac arrest Thursday.

Born in Seoul in 1966, Kang began her career as a child actor in the 1970s. She appeared in the family drama “3 Stars” in 1977 and in the movies “Chorus Of Doves,” “Two Tomboys” and “All That Falls Have Wings.”

Her career took a huge turning point when, at the age of 21, she won her best actress award at the Venice International Film Festival in 1987 for her performance in the movie “The Surrogate Womb,” helmed by Im Kwon-taek. Kang was the first Korean actor to win an acting prize in an international film festival.

In 1989, she received the best actress award at the Moscow International Film Festival for her role as a Buddhist nun in “Come, Come, Come Upward,” also directed by Im.

Later, she appeared in several local blockbusters, including “The Road to Race Track” in 1991, “Blue in You” (1992), “Go Alone Like Musso’s Horn” (1995) and “Girl’s Night Out” (1998). She also starred in the lead role of the hit period drama “Ladies of the Palace” (2001), which depicted the power struggle between the royal women in the palace.

Kang took a break from acting after she wrapped up shooting for the 2011 drama “Hanji,” where she also served as producer. She was named co-executive director of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF) from 2015 to 2017.

According to The Korea Herald, Kang had recently finished shooting for Netflix’s original sci-fi movie, “Jung-E,” which is helmed by “Train To Busan” director Yeon Sang-Ho.

The streaming platform's South Korean office honored Kang in a statement and said, "she had always showed great acting and good energy on set."

Praising the actress for her hard work, organizers of the BIFF said: “Former executive director of the BIFF Kang Soo-youn worked hard to promote Korean cinema to the world. From 2015 to 2017, she devoted herself to the successful operation of the Busan International Film Festival as the executive director.”