Career as an actress

She made her debut in the entertainment industry through the MBC 9th Open Recruitment Talent in 1977.^[10] After passing the talent test, Shin continued to work as a nurse for a couple of years. She captivated the public with her portrayal of mostly ordinary citizens and continued her acting career by appearing in several dramas.^[11]

Shortly after her debut, she made her first public appearance as an assistant host for MBC's Scholarship Quiz. In the early days of her career, she acted under the stage name Shin Geum-mae (Korean: 신금매; Hanja: 申錦梅).^[11][12] Her last work under this stage name was the MBC drama Birthday Hand (1986).^[13] She changed her stage name to her real name, Shin Shin-ae in MBC drama Winter Flower (1986), where she had a lead role as Mrs. Cheon.^[2]

She rose to stardom 13 years after her debut, thanks to her role as Park Bok-nyeo, Yeombang's wife with a crossed eyes condition, in the MBC Drama Yeombanggakha [ko] (1990). Her believable performance earned Shin the MBC Actor Choice Award for Best Actress in 1990.^[14] Twenty-six years later, this role also led her to win another award, the "2016 World Luxury Brand Grand Prize" (previously known as the Chairman Dong-dam Joo Award). The judges selected her as the winner based on her portrayal in the drama and her iconic hit song "The World is a Wonderful World." She accepted the award at a ceremony held at 2 pm on the 22nd at the Art Hall on the first floor of Women's Plaza in Seoul.^[15][16]

In the same year, she made her debut as a movie actor in the film Ghost Baseball Team (1990), followed by another movie, Romance Emperor (1992). These two movies led to numerous interviews and flooded requests for her to appear in films.^[11]

Career as a singer

In the spring of 1993, Shin appeared in the mini-series KBS2 Hope as 'Bongchanne'. This character boasts that she has mastered more than a thousand ppongjjak songs, so she had to sing a lot of ppongjjak songs in the drama. Record producer and singer Kim Soo-hee encouraged Shin Shin-ae to seize this great opportunity and release her first album with a few additional songs.^[11][17] Among them, 'The World is a Wonderful World,' for which Shin Shin-ae wrote the lyrics, became a huge hit,^[18] and suddenly propelled Shin to become a popular ppongjjak singer nationwide, triggering the "Shin Shin-ae craze." She also made her film debut in a film with the same title.^[19]

"The World Is a Wonderful World" rose to the top ranks of contemporary music programs such as KBS2 TV Music Top 10 and MBC Decided! It peaked at 3rd and 4th places on the Most Popular Songs chart, gaining immense popularity and winning the Grand Prize at the 1993 MBC All-Star Music Festival. In 1993, pop music was at its peak with famous artists like Seo Taiji and Boys, so the popularity of the trot song, sung by the expressionless Shin Shin-ae while performing a unique dance called "Lee-pan-sa-pan," was very unique.^[11][20][21]

According to Jang Yu-jeong, a professor at Dankook University's College of Liberal Arts and a popular music historian, "The World Is a Wonderful World," sung by Shin Shin-ae, is a combination of two songs released in the 1930s. The lyrics of "The World is a Wonderful World" sung by Kim Jung-gu in 1939 formed the basis, but the lyrics of "Anchhwa Storm" sung by Kim Jung-gu in 1938 were also partially modified. In the second verse of "Anchhwa Storm," the line "The old man's topknot twisted and his wife's shoes ran away" was transformed into "The old man's topknot twisted and the old woman's shoes ran away."^[21] Together with Kim Jung-gu, Shin was mentioned in the Encyclopedia of Korean Culture as a representative singer of the genre Manyo (music) [ko] (Korean: 만요; Hanja: 漫謠), also known as a comic song, which emerged during the Japanese colonial period.^[22]

A year later, she released the song "Money, Money, Money-Money," a satirical trot song about money. Although it didn't reach the same level of success as her previous work, it still became a hit. In the 1990s, Shin Shin-ae became more active in music than in acting. However, she temporarily ended her singing career in 2003 with the albums "Amusement Song" and returned to her main job as an actress.^[11]

She made a comeback as a singer after 14 years with an album titled "Yonggungga" (2017),^[23] featuring a satirical song that tells the story of a loyal child and a rabbit overcoming difficulties with wisdom. The song is based on the South Korean classic folk tale Byeoljujeon and its lyrics contain stories satirizing the powerful who take advantage of the weak. Shin Shin-ae won the popular song development category at the 2018 Proud Korean People Awards held at the National Assembly Hall on January 13, 2018.^[24]

Singer and actress Shin Shin-ae became a hot topic when she appeared in JTBC's Two Yoo Project Sugar Man Season 3 Lunar New Year Trot Special (Season 3 Episode 8, January 24, 2020) performing her most famous song, "The World is a Wonderful World."^[25][26] This led to her being invited to the popular variety show MBC Radio Star.^[27][28]

Other activities

In 2020, Shin joined "My Job-Happy Tomorrow," the third series of the 'We Together Campaign' sponsored by the Ministry of Culture, Sports, and Tourism. The campaign aims to foster understanding and empathy between generations in an aging society. Shin's role is that of a job ambassador for seniors. She visits job sites for the elderly and experiences their work, creating an "experiential life site for the elderly." The 'We Together Campaign' has presented various content focusing on low fertility and joint parenting, raising awareness of an aging society, and fostering intergenerational communication.^{[29][30][31][32]}

Once again, Shin became a hot topic. In December 2020, she was awarded by the Minister of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of South Korea in recognition of her contribution to actively publicizing job information for the elderly and improving awareness of an aging society through 'My Job-Happy Tomorrow.'^[30]

Film

Television drama series

Television Sitcom

Theater

Album

Ambassadorship

Acting award(s)

Music award(s)

Culture award(s)