in One Fine Day and The Snow Queen, playing, respectively, an orphan adopted by a wealthy but suffocating family, and a cold-hearted heiress with an incurable disease. But it was fusion-period dramedy Hong Gil-dong in 2008 that changed how the industry perceived Sung as an actress. The series' screenwriters, the Hong sisters were initially criticized for casting her, but they defended Sung, and her portrayal of a tomboyish, vanity-free outlaw drew a positive reception from audiences. Sung then played an aspiring show director who joins the Cirque du Soleil in Swallow the Sun, a 2009 big-budget action-romance series with overseas location shoots in Las Vegas and South Africa. That same year, she also appeared in her first big-screen starring role as a Korean-American adoptee who returns to her native country to search for her biological mother in Maybe (titled Rabbit and Lizard in Korean). In 2011, Sung left SidusHQ and transferred to King Kong Entertainment. She then starred in Romance Town, in the role of a maid who wins in the lottery and keeps it a secret from her boss and fellow household help. A more traditional melodrama followed with Feast of the Gods (2012), about two rival female chefs of Korean royal court cuisine. Afterwards, Sung reunited onscreen with previous Hong Gil-dong co-star Kang Ji-hwan in the action-comedy film Runway Cop, which revolves around a detective who goes undercover as a fashion model for a drug case. In 2013, she played a genius with psychogenic amnesia in The Secret of Birth. The low-budget indie A Boy's Sister was then released, in which Sung played the titular character who's grieving after her brother's death. Later that year, she replaced Han Hye-jin as one of the hosts of talk show Healing Camp, Aren't You Happy. When Sung's contract with King Kong Entertainment expired in January 2014, she signed with Fantagio. She then appeared for free in the short film Chorogi and the Stalker Guy which screened at 6th Seoul International Extreme-Short Image & Film Festival (SESIFF). Sung next played a diva actress who unexpectedly falls for her loyal manager in the 2015 omnibus Summer Snow. On April 20, 2015, Sung signed an exclusive contract with SL Entertainment. She next starred in the revenge melodrama Monster. Personal life Sung married golfer Ahn Sung-hyun in May 2017 in a low-key private ceremony. They had been dating for four years and did not publicly