Following Jang's time as a model and participation in the 1992 Miss Korea beauty contest, she began her acting career on television, in the drama Angel in My Heart (1997).

[5] Jang Jin-young began her career as a model, and represented the South Chungcheong Province at the 1992 Miss Korea beauty contest.

[6] After making the transition into acting with appearances in a number of TV dramas, she received her film debut with a supporting role in the 1999 fantasy Ghost in Love.

In 2000, she appeared in Kim Jee-woon's The Foul King, one of the biggest domestic hits of that year,[7] and Jang's tough image in the film drew attention from critics, with Derek Elley of Variety saying that she "makes an impression as the lightly romantic, not-so-fragile daughter".

[9] Jang's first starring role was in the 2001 psychological horror film Sorum, in which she was cast against type as Sun-yeong, a chain smoking abused wife.

Jang headed an ensemble cast as Na-nan, a down on her luck woman on the verge of turning thirty, who she described as being "very close to my actual real-life self" in terms of her personality.

[18] For her next project, Jang was cast as the lead in Blue Swallow, a ₩9.7 billion biopic of aviation pioneer Park Kyung-won,[19] which reunited her with Sorum director Yoon Jong-chan, and Singles co-star Kim Joo-hyuk.

"[19] Released towards the end of 2005, the film found itself the subject of strong criticism, with Park seen by many as having been a pro-Japanese figure during the Japanese colonial rule of Korea,[21] and it subsequently sold a disappointing 600,000 tickets at the Korean box office.

In order to give a realistic portrayal of a bargirl, Jang spent time touring underground bars and room salons, but had difficulty identifying with her character, saying, "I couldn't easily understand why she had to act that way...

Filming began in New York City on April 24, and in the wake of the Virginia Tech massacre it was reported that the production company had taken out insurance policies on Jang and her co-stars over fears of related incidents.

[32] In a telephone interview aired on MBC's After News program on November 29, 2008, Jang told the public that she had been undergoing Western medical treatments coupled with traditional herbal remedies, and that her health was improving.

She had wed her husband, Kim Young-kyun, while in the U.S. for cancer treatment, and registered the marriage to make it official in Korea just days before her death.