# Kim Ji-soo (actress, born 1972)

Kim Ji-soo (born Yang Sung-yoon on October 24, 1972) is a South Korean actress.

## Career

A graduate of Kaywon High School of the Arts, Kim made her acting debut in 1992. She worked as a television actress for over a decade before branching out into film, saying in an interview that, "I was getting older by the second, and I hated becoming complacent." In 2005, Kim made her first big screen appearance with a leading role in Lee Yoon-ki's This Charming Girl, a character study of a twenty-something single woman working at a post office. The film was well received by critics, and Kim herself was singled out for praise, with The Japan Times commenting, "Kim's performance is a masterful balance of understatedness and open-wounded vulnerability." Kim won Best Actress at the Singapore International Film Festival, and Best New Actress at the Blue Dragon Film Awards, Busan Film Critics Awards, and Korean Film Awards, with a further nomination at the Grand Bell Awards. Due to the success of This Charming Girl on the international film festival circuit, and in recognition of her role in promoting Korean culture overseas, Kim was invited to a Blue House luncheon, where she met then-South Korean President Roh Moo-hyun and First Lady Kwon Yang-suk.
In 2006 Kim appeared in several films, first with Jo Jae-hyun in the melodrama Romance, though she was publicly critical about the lack of depth to her character. In October 2006, she portrayed a victim of the Sampoong Department Store collapse in Traces of Love, which was selected as the opening film of the 11th Pusan International Film Festival. In November 2006, Kim starred opposite Han Suk-kyu in the romantic drama Solace, receiving a nomination for Best Actress at the Korean Film Awards.
Kim returned to television in May 2008 with a leading role in the drama Women of the Sun. Her turn as a complex antiheroine garnered praise, and she won a Top Excellence Award in Acting at the year-end KBS Drama Awards and a nomination for Best TV Actress at the Baeksang Arts Awards.
In 2010 she starred in her first historical series The King of Legend which focuses on Geunchogo, the 13th ruler of Baekje. Shortly before the drama's premiere, Kim was involved in a drunken hit-and-run accident (this was her second offense; her first DUI was in 2000 for which she lost her license). Amidst a wave of complaints demanding that she be fired from the drama, broadcast station KBS stuck by the actress, and Kim released an official apology and paid the fine of ₩10 million. She was later listed among the top 10 highest-paid entertainers on KBS for the year 2011, with a salary of ₩400 million. Starring roles followed in Love Again (2012) and One Warm Word (2013).
When asked in an interview if she would consider appearing nude onscreen, Kim replied, "I don't want to take nude scenes to prove my passion for acting, which I have always had."
In November 2020, Kim signed with new agency Lead Entertainment.
In November 2022, Kim left Lead Entertainment and signed with new agency IOK Company.

## Personal life

She was in a six-year relationship with actor Kim Joo-hyuk, with whom she co-starred in the 2002 SBS drama series Like a Flowing River. The couple broke up in 2009.
After her change in relationship status on Facebook was leaked in March 2012, Kim confirmed that she was dating a Korean-Canadian 16 years her junior. The couple split in 2013.

## Filmography
### Television series

| Year | Title | Role |
| 1992 | Female Detective 8080 | Detective Cha Song-hwa |
| 1992 | Time of Ardor | |
| 1993 | Faraway Songba River | Lee Ok-im |
| 1993–1994 | To the Lovely Others | Lee Myung-sook |
| 1994 | General Hospital | Nurse Joo Kyung-hee |
| 1994 | M | Kim Eun-hee |
| 1994 | The Last Lover | Kim Joo-hee |
| 1995 | Little Heroes | Yeo-jin |
| 1996 | Sibling Relations | Lee Guk-hee |
| 1997 | The Angel Within | |
| 1997 | Mountain | Lee Soo-jung |
| 1997 | One-Act Play – "Two Mothers" | |
| 1997 | MBC Best Theater – "Solomon's Thieves" | |
| 1997–1998 | When She Beckons | Kim In-hwa/Jang In-young |
| 1998 | Love | Lee So-jin |
| 1998–1999 | See and See Again | Eun-joo |
| 1998–1999 | I Hate You, But It's Fine | |
| 1998–1999 | Letters Written on a Cloudy Day | |
| 1999 | MBC Best Theater – "Once in a Lifetime" | |
| 1999–2000 | Sweet Bride | Min-hee |
| 2000 | Bad Friends | Lee Sang-eun |
| 2000 | MBC Best Theater – "Dong-bo's Bluebird" | Ji-soo |
| 2000–2001 | Full of Sun | Park Ji-sook |
| 2000–2001 | Foolish Princes | Joo Jang-mi |
| 2001 | Wind from the Straits | |
| 2001 | Legend | Yoon Seo-yeon |
| 2002 | Sunshine Hunting | Song Hee-ju |
| 2002–2003 | Like a Flowing River | Park Sang-hee |
| 2003 | First Love | Yoon Seo-gyung |
| 2004–2005 | The Age of Heroes | Park So-sun |
| 2008 | Women in the Sun | Shin Do-young/Kim Han-sook |
| 2010–2011 | The King of Legend | Buyeo Hwa |
| 2012 | Love Again | Uhm Ji-hyun |
| 2013 | One Warm Word | Song Mi-kyung |
| 2016 | Memory | Seo Yeong-joo |
| 2016–2017 | Hwarang: The Poet Warrior Youth | Queen Mother Jiso |
| 2017–2018 | A Korean Odyssey | Na Chal-nyeo |
| 2018 | Where Stars Land | Yang Seo-gun |
| 2020 | 365: Repeat the Year | Lee Shin |
| 2021 | High Class | Nam Ji-seon |
| 2024 | Romance in the House | Keum Ae-yeon |

### Film

| Year | Title | Role |
| 2005 | This Charming Girl | Jeong-hae |
| 2005 | Murder, Take One | Jung Yun-jung (cameo) |
| 2005 | Love Talk | Jeong-hae (cameo) |
| 2006 | Romance | Yun-hee |
| 2006 | Traces of Love | Seo Min-joo |
| 2006 | Solace | Lee Hye-ran |
| 2011 | Come Rain, Come Shine | Woman next door (cameo) |
| 2015 | Gangnam Blues | Min Seong-hee |
| 2016 | Woo-joo's Christmas | Sung Woo-joo |
| 2018 | Intimate Strangers | Ye-jin |

### Variety show

| Year | Title | Notes |
| 1995 | Entertainment Weekly | MC |
| 1995 | MBC Popular Song Best 50 | MC |
| 1998 | Live Dating 11 | MC |
| 1999 | Seo Se-won's Super Stardom | MC |
| 2000 | To You Who Forget the Night [ko] | DJ |
| 2005 | Ya Shim Man Man [ko] | Guest (Episode 100, 188) |
| 2006 | Ya Shim Man Man [ko] | Guest (Episode 100, 188) |
| 2008 | LOVE | Guest (Episode 4) |
| 2010 | Sweet Rain | Guest (Episode 17-18) |
| 2013 | Thank You [ko] | Guest (Episode 8) |
| 2015 | Running Man | Guest (Episode 232) |
| 2017 | I Live Alone | Guest (Episode 197) |

### Music video

| Year | Song Title | Artist |
| 1999 | "Are You Going" | Jinju |
| 2001 | "Should I Say I Love You Again?" | Kim Dong-ryool |
| 2004 | "Memory Loss" | Gummy |
| 2006 | "That Man, That Woman" | Vibe |

## Awards and nominations

| Year | Award | Category | Nominated work | Result |
| 1997 | KBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress | When She Beckons | Won |
| 1998 | MBC Drama Awards | Grand Prize (Daesang) | See and See Again | Won |
| 2002 | SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress in a Serial Drama | Like a Flowing River | Won |
| 2005 | 18th Singapore International Film Festival | Best Actress | This Charming Girl | Won |
| 2005 | 41st Baeksang Arts Awards | Best New Actress | This Charming Girl | Nominated |
| 2005 | 42nd Grand Bell Awards | Best New Actress | This Charming Girl | Nominated |
| 2005 | 6th Busan Film Critics Awards | Best New Actress | This Charming Girl | Won |
| 2005 | 26th Blue Dragon Film Awards | Best New Actress | This Charming Girl | Won |
| 2005 | 4th Korean Film Awards | Best New Actress | This Charming Girl | Won |
| 2006 | Mnet KM Music Festival | Best Actress in a Music Video | That Man, That Woman | Won |
| 2007 | 6th Korean Film Awards | Best Actress | Solace | Nominated |
| 2008 | KBS Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actress | Women of the Sun | Won |
| 2009 | 45th Baeksang Arts Awards | Best Actress (TV) | Women of the Sun | Nominated |
| 2011 | KBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress in a Serial Drama | The King of Legend | Nominated |
| 2014 | 50th Baeksang Arts Awards | Best Actress (TV) | One Warm Word | Nominated |
| 2014 | SBS Drama Awards | Top Excellence Award, Actress in a Drama Special | One Warm Word | Nominated |
| 2018 | SBS Drama Awards | Excellence Award, Actress in a Monday-Tuesday Drama | Where Stars Land | Nominated |