Squid Game star HoYeon Jung hits 20 million Instagram followers after Netflix debut

Netflix’s latest hit show Squid Game has taken the internet by storm and leading actress HoYeon Jung has reaped the rewards, as her Instagram follower count has skyrocketed to over 20 million since the program debuted.

The South Korean drama Squid Game exploded in popularity since it appeared on Netflix on September 17, largely from word of mouth.

In the show, down-on-their-luck individuals compete in a series of deadly challenges (some of which have turned into viral TikToks) in an attempt to become rich.

Now, actress HoYeon Jung has seen her own growth soar thanks to the show’s success. Despite being ranked as one of the world’s Top 50 Models, she sat at just over 400,000 followers prior to Squid Game’s launch.

Netflix

HoYeon Jung’s character has become a fan favorite among Squid Game viewers.

HoYeon Jung gets millions of followers after Squid Game

Two days after the show appeared and began amassing a following, so too did Jung. Statistics show she gained 20,000 Instagram followers on the Friday and Saturday.

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This was followed up by a whopping 250,209 on Sunday the 19th. The followers kept pouring in after that, with literally millions of people hitting the follow button on her Instagram every day since.

September 30 proved to be one of her biggest days yet, with 1.3M new people deciding to follow her on Instagram. She now has over 21 million followers on the social media platform.

Amusingly, Squid Game was Jung’s first-ever acting performance, playing the North Korean defector Kang Sae-byeok. Not bad for her acting debut.

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Sadly, there are currently no plans for a sequel, but given HoYeon Jung’s newfound popularity, we probably won’t have long to wait before she’s signed on to her next project.