She gained international popularity through her leading roles in the television dramas Autumn in My Heart (2000), All In (2003), Full House (2004), That Winter, the Wind Blows (2013), Descendants of the Sun (2016), Encounter (2018), and The Glory (2022).

[8] They moved from her birthplace in Daegu to the Gangnam District in Seoul, where she trained as a figure skater in elementary school but quit when she was in the eighth grade.

[22] The same year, Song made her big-screen debut in My Girl and I (a Korean remake of Crying Out Love in the Center of the World), which was panned by audiences and critics alike.

[26] A year later, she made her American debut in the Hollywood indie Make Yourself at Home (formerly titled Fetish), a psychological thriller about a girl who was born to a shaman mother and tries to flee her fate by becoming an immigrant bride in the US.

In the film's final segment, Love for Sale, Song and Kang Dong-won played former lovers who forget their memories about each other, which later leads them to a fatal destiny.

[49] Song next played a supporting role in The Grandmaster, Chinese director Wong Kar-wai's biographical film about Bruce Lee's kung fu master Ip Man, for which she learned Cantonese and martial arts.

[53] Song reunited with the writer and director of Worlds Within in That Winter, the Wind Blows, a 2013 remake of 2002 Japanese drama Ai Nante Irane Yo, Natsu ("I Don't Need Love, Summer").

[68][69] Woo's recovery from tonsil tumor removal in 2012 led to another delay due to scheduling conflicts among the cast,[70][71] and Song finally began filming in June 2013.

[73][74][75] Another Chinese film followed in 2015, The Queens, a contemporary romantic comedy about three cosmopolitan women – an actress, a PR specialist, and a gallery manager – who manipulate friends and put down their enemies as they play the game of love.

[91] The series was well received by the audience[92] and Song's portrayal of Moon Dong-eun, a victim of brutal high school bullying who dedicates her adulthood to plot revenge against perpetrators, was met with praise by the critics.

[98] The ceremony was attended by the couple's closest family and friends,[99] including actors Lee Kwang-soo, Yoo Ah-in, and Park Bo-gum, who also played the piano at the reception.

[104] On July 25, 2019, Song Hye-kyo filed a complaint against fifteen online netizens for "spread of false information, defamation of character and insult.

[124] In July 2014, Song purchased 800 tickets for the Seoul International Women's Film Festival and donated them to the Korean Psychological Association and the Magdalena Community.

[125] In December 2016, Song made a donation to the Beautiful Foundation, to be used for educational support projects for low-income students who dream of becoming design experts.

[127] In March 2022, Song donated ₩100 million to Korean Red Cross to help the victims of the massive wildfire that started in Uljin, North Gyeongsang Province and has spread to Samcheok, Gangwon.

[136] In August 2013, Song and Korea PR expert Seo Kyung-duk donated a relief work of three independence fighters to the Yi Jun Peace Museum in The Hague, Netherlands.

[137] In October 2013, Song and Korea PR specialist Seo Kyung-duk donated guidebooks in Korean at An Jung-geun Memorial Hall in Harbin, China.

[138] In November 2013, Korea PR specialist Seo Kyung-duk and the fan club of Song Hye-kyo announced that they had donated Korean guidebooks to State Museum of History of Uzbekistan.

[139] In April 2014, Song and Seo donated 10,000 Korean information pamphlets for the building of the now-defunct Provisional Government of Korea in Hangzhou, China.

[140][141] In April 2015, Song donated money to print brochures at a church in New York City, which has been deemed as a historic Korean site.

[149] In October 2020, Song and Seo donated 10,000 copies of the guide on 'Our History Met Overseas - Paris Edition' to the Korean Cultural Center in France.

[151] On August 15, 2022, Song donated Kim Gyu-sik's relief work to the Temporary Government Center in Chongqing, China on the occasion of the 77th anniversary of Independence Day.

[152] In October 2022, Song and Sungshin Women's University professor Seo Kyung-deok donated 10,000 copies of Korean guidebooks to the Utoro Peace Memorial Museum located in Uji, Japan on Hangeul Day.