O Mi-ran

She 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 [ko], 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 Artiste in 1984 and People's Artiste 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 breast cancer; she was 51.^[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]