Kim So-hyun

Biography

Kim So-hyun (Korean: 김소현; born 4 June 1999) is an Australian-born South Korean actress. She is known for her leading roles in the youth drama Who Are You: School 2015 (2015), historical melodramas The Emperor: Owner of the Mask (2017) and River Where the Moon Rises (2021), romantic drama Love Alarm (2019), and the action-comedy Good Boy (2025). Kim began her career as a child actress in 2006, initially gaining attention for her appearances in Moon Embracing the Sun (2012) and Missing You (2013). She took on her first leading role in teen drama Ma Boy (2012) and transitioned into adult roles in several television series. She also hosted MBC's music program Music Core (2013–2015).

== Early life and education == Kim So-hyun was born on 4 June 1999, in Australia, and has a younger brother. She moved to South Korea in 2003, when she was four years old. Her father died when she was nine. Kim transferred from Hoeryong Elementary School in Gyeonggi Province to Towol Elementary School and graduated in February 2012. She then graduated from Yongin Munjung Middle School in 2015. She was subsequently homeschooled for secondary education, and passed her high school graduation exams by 2017. The same year, she enrolled at Hanyang University's Department of Theatre, through rolling admission. Kim attended the 79th entrance ceremony held at Hanyang University in Seongdong District, Seoul on 28 February 2018. In 2016, according to Singapore's national newspaper The Straits Times, Kim revealed in an email interview with the paper why she chose homeschooling instead of enrolling in high school. She said that while managing her acting career, she barely had time to study during her middle school days (which made her have to take her exams unprepared) and missed out in activities with her classmates, and this similarly occurred in her elementary school days. Kim chose homeschooling for her high school education because she did not want to give up her education and career. With this decision, Kim felt it would allow her to dedicate more time to both filming and studying.

== Career ==

=== 2006–2011: Beginnings as a child actress === Kim debuted as a child actress in 2006, playing a supporting role in the Drama City special "Ten Minute Minor". Then, she diligently increased her appearances from A Happy Woman (2007), Que Sera Sera (2007), Hometown of Legends (2008), My Name Is Pity (2008), Wife and Woman (2009) and Ja Myung Go (2009). She signed a management contract with SidusHQ in 2010. That year, she would go on to be cast in Becoming a Billionaire and Bread, Love and Dreams. Kim was confirmed to make her big-screen debut in Man of Vendetta (2010) as Joo Hye-rin, a daughter of a well-respected pastor who gets kidnapped. Kim was cast through a competition of 500:1. She continued to portray the child counterparts of the female protagonists in television series such as The Thorn Birds (2011), The Duo (2011) and Sin of a Family (2011). She then starred in a family comedy film, Spy Papa, about parents and children's relationship during inter-Korean relations in 1974.

=== 2012–2014: Rising popularity and teenage roles === In 2012, Kim appeared in six works in the first half of the year: a romantic fantasy television series, Padam Padam; a historical comedy film, I Am the King; a fantasy-period drama Moon Embracing the Sun, in which she gained recognition as the younger version of the second female lead, Kim received commend from the audience and the director of how well she portrayed the antagonist's desire realistically the drama came to rank number one in its time slot throughout its run and achieved a peak recorded viewer rating of 42.2%, thereby earning the "national drama" status Kim simultaneously became "Korea's little sister"; followed by a fantasy-comedy Rooftop Prince in the role as an evil sister; Love Again and a high school student whose roommate is a female idol star in Ma Boy.

Kim reunited with co-stars from Rooftop Prince (Park Yoo-chun) and Moon Embracing the Sun (Yeo Jin-goo) respectively, in a melodrama Missing You. Being dubbed the "Queen of Child Actors" (아역퀸) by the Korean press, she was one of the most praised child actors of her generation. She played the role of Lee Soo-yeon, bullied by her schoolmates and called "the daughter of the murderer", who gets kidnapped and sexually assaulted while trying to save her friend. Kim and Yeo shared the highest one-minute viewer rating scene of 10.4% in the drama. She received her first acting award as "Best Child Actress" at the 1st K-Drama Star Awards for Ma Boy and Missing You. In 2013, Kim made a surprise appearance on Iris II: New Generation as the childhood counterpart of the female protagonist and starred in The Secret of Birth as a girl with a genius-level brain. Then, she played the younger version of Lee Bo-young's character in the popular Korean drama I Can Hear Your Voice. On 20 June, Kim co-host MBC's music program Music Core along with Minho of SHINee and Noh Hong-chul. The three received much attention because of the combination of singers, actors, and broadcasters even though they initially showed a bit of immature progress, but amplified expectations of how they expressed their charms despite having different careers. She then was cast in The Suspicious Housekeeper, a Korean remake of the Japanese drama, Kaseifu no Mita. In the same year, Kim was reported along with Kim You-jung and Yeo Jin-goo as the top three child actors who earn above-average salaries for child actors. It was reported that Kim received 4-6 million won per episode. In 2014, Kim was cast as a child actor beside Oh Yeon-soo in the MBC drama, Triangle. Kim challenged her first dual role and first genre through OCN's new drama Reset. Later, she was cast in KBS2 special drama, We All Cry Differently, which won the 2013 KBS Screenplay Contest.

=== 2015–2016: Transition to leading roles and hosting ===

In 2015, Kim made a special appearance as the sister of the male lead in A Girl Who Sees Smells, played by Park Yoo-chun, whom she reunited with for the third time after Rooftop Prince and Missing You. On 18 April, Kim stepped down from her Music Core host posts after two years. Kim starred in KBS's school series Who Are You: School 2015, playing dual roles as twins Lee Eun-bi and Go Eun-byul. She was awarded "Star of the Year" at the eighth Korea Drama Awards for her performance. On 21 November, Kim held her first overseas promotion schedule at Sunshine City, Hong Kong. At the end of the year, Kim became the host of the 2015 KBS Drama Awards with Jun Hyun-moo and Park Bo-gum. In 2016, she returned to the big screen in a romance film Pure Love opposite Do Kyung-soo, playing the heroine of the film who has a beautiful voice but suffers from a leg injury. Kim then starred in a mystery-school web drama Nightmare Teacher alongside Lee Min-hyuk, playing a class president who discovers mysterious secrets of the school. The drama was filmed and featured nine students at Hosan University. The same year, Kim starred in Park Hye-ryun's three-episode drama special Page Turner opposite actors Ji Soo and Shin Jae-ha. She played the role of a "piano genius" who lost her sight after an accident. The number of video previews released in the web and mobile achieved 600,000 views which was considered "an unusual number" as a one-act play. She was dubbed as the "Korean Wave Fairy" by the Taiwanese media. On 4 June, Kim hosted the 2016 Dream Concert with Leeteuk and Hong Jong-hyun. She made her next acting move in the horror-comedy Hey Ghost, Let's Fight with Ok Taec-yeon, and played as the 13-year-old Princess Deokhye in the film The Last Princess, for which Park A-reum of K-pop Herald praised Kim for her in-depth emotional acting in the scene before her farewell to her mother (which Park called heartbreaking), as well as the high sync rate with Son Ye-jin. Also, Jung An-ji of Sports Chosun praised her for the historical accuracy of portraying the princess: citing she acted "perfectly" with the life of a girl during the Korean Empire. She had a recurring guest role in the hit fantasy drama Guardian: The Lonely and Great God. Kim showed an overwhelming presence and increased audience immersion in the early stage of the show, making a big impact as a cameo.