Jang Ja-yeon (Hangul: 장자연; 25 January 1982 – 7 March 2009) was a South Korean actress. At the time of her death at the age of 27, Jang had been starring in the KBS television drama series Boys Over Flowers. She had been suffering from depression, and a police investigation concluded that her death was a suicide.

Her death caused a national scandal when it emerged that she had been sexually and physically abused by a number of prominent entertainment executives during her career, and that this abuse had contributed to her depression.

Biography

Since the death of her parents in a traffic accident in 1999, Jang had been living with her older sister and younger brother. Prior to her own death, Jang had been suffering from clinical depression and had received medical treatment for her illness during the past year.