Bae was born in Seoul, South Korea. Growing up, Bae would follow her mother, Kim Hwa-young, a stage actress in Korea, around the theater and rehearsal halls, learning lines of dialogue as she went along. This did not initially lead Bae towards acting, saying: "People might say that since my mother is a theater actor, I became an actress. But to me, those experiences probably had the opposite effect. On the contrary, because I saw many great actors working with my mother, I thought this was a job only people with extraordinary talent could do."\n', '

A Hanyang University student in 1998, Bae was scouted by a model talent agency while walking in Seoul. This led to modeling clothing for COOLDOG\'s catalog, amongst others. In 1999 she made the switch to acting before completing her studies at Hanyang University, debuting in the TV drama School. Later that year, she appeared as the ghost in The Ring Virus, a Korean remake of the Japanese horror film Ring.\n', '

In 2000, director Bong Joon-ho cast her in the film Barking Dogs Never Bite for her willingness to do the part without makeup, something other South Korean actresses were unwilling to do. Bae later cited this part as the role that pushed her to pursue a serious acting career, saying: "That film made me decide to become an actress – a good actress – and that film thereby changed my whole life." In Kim So-young\'s documentary Women\'s History Trilogy (2000–2004), Bae stated her admiration for veteran South Korean actress Yoon Jeong-hee; Yoon returned the compliment, saying "Bae Doo-na owns her world." In this same documentary, Bae shared how her own most memorable scene was being chased by the homeless man throughout the apartment in Barking Dogs Never Bite. That same year she gave a risque performance (albeit with a body double for the more intense scenes) in Plum Blossom, and slowly started getting more work on television.\n', '

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