Moviegoers Walked Out Calling Her Korea’s “First Love”

Part 2 of 6 in Korea's First Love Who Failed Her Audition: Bae Suzy

Featured photo: Suzy at an OB Beer Hanmac campaign event, April 3, 2024. Photo: K-POPIT 케이팝잇 (TV10) via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0 (cropped).

Previously: cut from an audition, No. 1 three weeks after debut, and the first wave of hate comments.

March 2012: Seo-yeon’s freshman year

In Architecture 101, released in March 2012, Suzy played the college-freshman version of the heroine, Seo-yeon. The film drew 4,111,085 moviegoers and passed the record for a Korean romance, previously held by Maundy Thursday with 3.13 million (Xportsnews). Reviewers credited her with pulling in the film’s core audience, men in their 30s (same article). Then came the nickname: “the Nation’s First Love” (My Daily, Apr. 12, 2012). I’ll admit few people nodded along to that name harder than I did. Seo-yeon on that screen really was the first love everyone had tucked away in a corner of their heart.

1.25 million views as of Oct. 25, 2026.

The scene of two students sharing one pair of earphones, listening to Exhibition’s “Etude of Memories,” became the defining pop-culture image of that year (Etoday, “The pop culture that heated up 2012”). When 49 film-publicity staffers were polled at year’s end, Architecture 101 came first as “the film of the year I’d watch again” (Hankyoreh, Dec. 19, 2012, via Korea Education News).

Also read: He Wasn't Exiled to China. He Planned It 19 Years Ago.

2012: The first woman with four rookie awards

That May, Suzy won best new actress in film at the 48th Baeksang Arts Awards. She became the first Korean female entertainer to hold rookie awards as a singer and as a drama, film and variety performer (Wikipedia). The same year she appeared in KBS’s Big, written by the Hong sisters, with Gong Yoo and Lee Min-jung.

2013: Fourteen commercials and “Suzy power”

“The Nation’s First Love” quickly became the face of Korean advertising. By industry estimates she appeared in more than 14 commercials in 2013 and earned over $9 million that year (Wikipedia). The products ranged from cosmetics and clothing to sugar, and the sales bump that followed her campaigns got its own name: “Suzy power.” A Face Shop perfume, a line of Guess jeans and two Lancôme lipsticks were named after her (same source). Her trophy shelf from those years includes the MTN Broadcast Advertising Festival’s female CF model award (2012) and the Korean Advertisers Association’s best model award (2013).

With the fashion brand Bean Pole she went beyond photo shoots: in fall 2015 she designed its “Bonnie Bag” herself (Wikipedia).

2013: Dam Yeo-ul in Gu Family Book

The same year she played the martial artist Dam Yeo-ul in MBC’s Gu Family Book (known in the US as Kangchi, the Beginning), opposite Lee Seung-gi. Their lantern-festival date in episode 14 hit the show’s highest minute-by-minute rating (MBCdrama), and Suzy took home MBC’s top excellence award for a miniseries actress plus best couple with Lee. The role also won her the Seoul International Drama Awards’ outstanding Korean actress prize (Wikipedia).

588,000 views as of Oct. 25, 2026.

2.47 million views as of Oct. 25, 2026.

On Dec. 5, 2013, Suzy and her bandmate Jia visited Severance Hospital in Seoul. In 2014 it came out that she had been giving about $9,000 a year to children with cancer and leukemia (Wikipedia). In the middle of her most dazzling year, she was quietly showing up for sick kids. As a fan, this is the side of Suzy I love most.

2014–2015: A year of pansori for one role

She did not pick only easy roles. In May 2014 she was cast as Jin Chae-seon, Korea’s first female master of pansori (traditional Korean narrative singing), and trained in the art for a full year. The Sound of a Flower opened in November 2015 (Wikipedia) and won her the 2016 Baeksang most popular actress award in film.

In January 2015 she was named “Goddess” at China’s Sina Weibo Night Awards (Wikipedia). Then, in January 2016, she released a song with EXO’s Baekhyun. It went straight to the top of the charts in its first week.

Where to watch (checked Oct. 25, 2026, via JustWatch) – Architecture 101 (2012): US — Rakuten Viki, The Roku Channel · Korea — Netflix, TVING, wavve – Gu Family Book (2013): US — Rakuten Viki · Korea — wavve – The Sound of a Flower (2015): US — Tubi · Korea — Netflix, TVING

Sources

• Xportsnews, Architecture 101 box office; My Daily, Apr. 12, 2012
• Korea Education News, Feb. 13, 2013 (Hankyoreh poll); Etoday
• Wikipedia, “Bae Suzy”; Awards list
• Currency: 2013 average about 1,095 won per dollar; 2014 about 1,050.