Oh Min Ae is a South Korean actress born in Seoul, South Korea. She was born to an unwed single mother. She had to give up high school and support herself by doing odd jobs, such as newspaper seller, delivery work, bar waitress, and teaching aerobics. When she was 27, she visited a travel agency to inquire about a backpacking trip to India. During this visit, the travel agent guessed that she might be a stage actor. This sparked her interest, and the agent introduced her to an acquaintance in the theater world. Since then, she started her acting journey, starting from theater staff.

She made her first film appearance in 1999 in "Memento Mori". Starting January 1, 2000, she spent about a year and a half living as a monk at Cheongunsa Temple. After leaving the temple, she used a stage name. She thought life must be hard because of her name; she wanted to be ordinary, so she used the characters for "female" and "hope" and resumed her activities as a theater actress under the name for ten years.

In her 40s, she got married and had a child. She also passed the high school equivalency exam and enrolled in the Department of Cultural Studies at Broadcasting and Communication University. She needed to make money for childcare, so she decided to pursue a career as counselor. She entered Soongsil University's Graduate School of Social Welfare in 2010, where she earned a social worker license.

She established Dongjak Theater Association (동작연극협회) with fellow theater actors. It was approved as a branch of the Seoul Theater Association on August 12, 2013. She served as the 1st branch president until 2017. She took on various administrative roles, including serving in educational and volunteer work. Handling too many responsibilities led to depression. Financial difficulties forced her to also work as a card salesman. She relied on connections with junior colleagues in the theater. Due to her union status, she was required to do a performance called "Forest Fire". Reading the play's script reignited her love of acting and made her realize she could no longer return to a salesman.

In 2015, she served as director of the 36th Seoul Theater Festival. She served as director for Dongjak Theater Association's "Hongsiyeol-neun House", performed on March 10, 2016.

On March 27, 2017, the founding ceremony of the Performing Arts Workers' Union took place at the multipurpose hall of the Good Performance Information Center in Marronnier Park, Daehak-ro, Seoul. She was elected as co-vice chairman alongside Cho Jae Hyun, while Lee Jong Seung was appointed as the first chairman.

In 2018, the MeToo movement shed light on numerous sexual violence cases within the theater community. During this period, she played a key role in receiving reports of these incidents and helped organize a rally demanding accountability within the community. These efforts led to personal challenges and legal troubles, including defamation lawsuits, which she handled without legal representation. Ultimately, these experiences caused her to step away from the theater scene.

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