In recent years, few young actresses have burst onto the scene quite so dramatically as KIM Go-eun, the young starlet of <Eungyo> (2012). Born in 1991, Kim Goeun was majoring in drama at the Korea National University of Arts when the president of the alumni association told her about an audition for the next project by Director Jung Jiwoo of <Happy End> fame. More than 300 hopefuls were auditioning for the title role in <Eungyo>, the film adaptation of a bes...More

In recent years, few young actresses have burst onto the scene quite so dramatically as KIM Go-eun, the young starlet of <Eungyo> (2012). Born in 1991, Kim Goeun was majoring in drama at the Korea National University of Arts when the president of the alumni association told her about an audition for the next project by Director Jung Jiwoo of <Happy End> fame. More than 300 hopefuls were auditioning for the title role in <Eungyo>, the film adaptation of a bestselling novel by Park Bumshin, but Jung was immediately struck by the similarities between Kim and the character he had in mind. Playing an alluring high school girl in a literary film teeming with themes of male desire and in many ways reminiscent of the novel <Lolita>, Kim couldn’t help but draw attention for her first role. Aside from the taboo nature of the role itself, most remarkable was her talent, which was quickly recognized as she swept the Best New Actress category at every major awards ceremony in 2012, including the Grand Bell Awards, Blue Dragon Film Awards, and the Korean Association of Film Critics. Kim didn’t jump on her next big project right away, and instead took the time to perform on stage with her classmates and participate in short films. She switched gears in 2014, playing a sister seeking revenge for her murdered sister in <Monster> alongside Lee Minki. Kim’s next lead role came in the gritty female-led gangster thriller <Coin Locker Girl>, as a young girl taken under the wing of a gruff loan shark played by Kim Hyesu. Though shot prior to <Coin Locker Girl>, later in 2015 Kim appeared in the main supporting role in the period action film <Memories of the Sword> alongside Jeon Doyeon and Lee Byunghun. Following that title’s critical and commercial misfire, Kim quickly followed up with the thriller <The Advocate: A Missing Body> alongside Lee Sungyun. In 2015, she moved to television with the romcom series <Cheese in the Trap> (2016), based on a hit webtoon, and won Best New Actress in Television at the Baeksang Arts Awards. She next appeared in Chang’s drama <Canola> with Youn Yuhjung, which was optioned for a Chinese remake ahead of its spring 2016 release. Kim then made the headlines again when she was cast in <Guardian: The Lonely and Great God> (2016-2017), the much-anticipated new romantic series by screenwriter Kim Eunsook after her international hit <Descendants of the Sun>. Starring alongside Gong Yoo, Kim scored another hit that cemented her status as an up-and-coming star. She then starred in Lee Joonik’s coming-of-age drama <Sunset in My Hometown> (2017) and reunited with Jung in the nostalgia-infused melodrama <Tune in for Love> (2019). She was cast as the last court lady of the Joseon Dynasty in Yoon Jekyun musical biopic drama <Hero> (2020), whose release was delayed until 2022 because of the pandemic, but in the meantime she found success again on television, starring in the fantasy period drama <The King : Eternal Monarch> (2020), the romcom series <Yumi’s Cells> (2021-2022) and the drama series <Little Women> (2022).

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