Kwon Hee-deok

On 10 April 1956, Kwon was born in Daejeon, and was brought up a Protestant.^[1] She developed her voice acting skills from an early age, taking on the role of master of ceremonies for a children's programme when she was in the second grade of elementary school.^[2] Kwon graduated from the Department of Broadcasting and Entertainment of the Seoul Institute of the Arts.^[3] In 1976, she passed the Broadcasting Voice Actor Recruitment Test against 700 competitors,^[2] making her debut not long.^[3] She was the dubbed voice of major actress from the Western world such as Meg Ryan in her roles of Sally in When Harry Met Sally... and The French Kiss,^[2][4] Ingrid Bergman, Lim Chung-ha,^[5] and Catherine Deneuve.^[6] Kwon also voiced the dub of Marie Antoinette in Lady Oscar, Shira in Queen of the Universe She Ra,^[2] and the role of Cordelia in the animated film Py Story.^[6]

Kwon received popularity voicing the character of her stepmother Yoo Ji-ae in the animation series Run Hani.^[7] She was the dubbed voice of the protagonist Lara in Doctor Zhivago,^[4] and was the narrator of a 1988 television advertisement for a Samsung Electronics video player product featuring the actress Choi Jin-sil with the tagline "It's up to you to be a man or a woman",^[3][8] which earned her national recognition.^[9] In 1996, she won the Grand Prize in the radio acting section at the Korea Broadcasting Awards.^[5][8] Kwon authored a series of collection readings, Do not grow old, mother, which contains 14 lyrical poems from the two Koreas.^[4] In 1999, she authored the essay collection entitled A woman's voice is up to her, which received a positive review from Yes24,^[10] and was the CEO of Seoul Sound Design.^[3] Kwon produced an animation parody called of a traditional fairy tale four years later.^[11] Overall, she was involved in more than 3,000 works in commercials, dramas and films during her professional career.^[12]

She was a disability campaigner,^[6][13] and held a fundraising dinner show to raise funding for disabled people's welfare.^[13] From May 2009, Kwon taught voice acting to nine students at Seoul Blind School.^[13]

She was a registered member of the Myeongdong Cathedral.^[14] Kwon was married to the former director of the Myeongdong Arts Theater Koo Ja-heung, with whom she had two children.^[3] she died suddenly of an acute myocardial infarction that gradually worsened whilst she was in hospital on 16 March 2018.^[1][4][7] Kwon's funeral took place at St. Mary's Hospital in Seoul three days later.^[3]