[5] Then after a decade in relative obscurity, Choo drew critical acclaim in 2006 for her portrayal of a ravaged drug addict in Bloody Tie, a film noir about the meth trade in 1990s Busan.

[8][9][10] She was then cast in the erotic period drama Portrait of a Beauty, based on Lee Jung-myung's novel Painter of the Wind which reimagined Joseon artist Shin Yun-bok as a woman disguised as a man.

[11][12] Portrait of a Beauty became the 8th best-selling Korean film of 2008,[13][14] and Choo again received supporting actress nominations for playing a gisaeng who entertains noblemen by performing dances and poetry readings.

This was followed by Missing (2009), a slasher film in which Choo's character is determined to find her younger sister, who's been abducted by a psychopath farmer who rapes and murders young women.

Choo played a self-destructive woman with a drinking problem and professional crises; she goes to stay at her friend's house until she sorts out her life, then has an affair with the latter's cuckolded husband.

"[20] She was cast as Du Chun's leading lady in The Legend of the Banner Hero (also known as Clan Feuds), adapted from Taiwanese novelist Gu Long's wuxia novel of the same title.

When Choo appeared in a semi-nude hanbok photo shoot for a Chinese magazine in 2011, she was criticized by Korean netizens for "damaging the national costume's image.