Yoo Dain majored in acting at university and began her career through minor roles in TV series, movies, and as a model for commercials. Her debut work is Biscuit Teacher and Star Candy (2005), a TV series where the actor played a high school senior. After that, she made her name known little by little with her clean and pure looks. During the first five years since her debut, Yoo worked in various areas such as movies, TV, music videos, and commercials, building up her career. The spectrum of films and TV series she appeared in during the period ranged from sitcoms to horror movies, and she was recognized as a stable actor who solidified her share of the role regardless of its weight.

Yoo Dain’s breakthrough was with Director Min Yonggeun’s Re-encounter (2010). Playing the main character Hyehwa, Yoo showed the power to control the tone of the entire movie and expressed calm yet deep pain. The film won her the Independent Star Award at the Seoul Independent Film Festival, making her emerge as the female actor representing Korea’s independent films. She also won the Best Actress Award at the Asian Film Festival in Trous, France, and the Best New Actress Award at the Korea Association of Film Critics Awards.

Since then, Yoo has continued to work on short films, low-budget movies, and commercial ones. Despite often being a light-toned actor, she sometimes reveals her unexpected charms through genre acting. The actor was impressive in the genre movies. In the crime comedy Over My Dead Body (2012), she performed the strong slapstick elements without hesitation, and in the black comedy The Snob (2019), she skillfully pulled off the character living a pretentious life swayed by desire. In terms of TV dramas, she performed well in one-act dramas and mini-series. Just an Ordinary Love Story (2012), the 4-episode TV series produced by KBS, was unusually released on DVD thanks to the continuous popularity, and Yoo Dain won the Best Actress Award for a One-Act/Short/Special Drama at the KBS Drama Awards that year. Through this work, the actor could become known to a wide range of audiences.

Her latest movie I Don’t Fire Myself (2020) shows that Yoo’s real and calm acting has deepened. She appears as a laborer who struggles to survive in a situation just before being fired, showing a sad yet touching performance. With a calm and stable voice tone, the actor also participated in the Barrier-Free version films as a commentator or voice actor. Kim Hyungseok