South Korean actress Kim Go-eun recently secured her first Best Leading Actress in Film award at the 60th Baeksang Arts Awards for her role in Exhuma. This achievement has been met with enthusiastic support from her extensive fan base in China.
Kim, 32, is celebrated for her natural and intuitive performances and is particularly popular among Chinese cinephiles for her fluent Mandarin, complete with a Beijing accent. At the age of four, Kim moved from Seoul to Beijing due to her father’s job, living there for a decade. She attended the No 3 Junior School and No 4 Secondary School in Beijing’s Miyun county before returning to Seoul at 14.
Her passion for the film industry was ignited by the 2002 movie Together, directed by Chinese filmmaker Chen Kaige. Kim has watched the film over 20 times, fueling her dream of a career in cinema. Initially, she attended Kaywon High School of the Arts with plans to work backstage or as a screenwriter, but her experiences there led her to pursue drama at the Korea National University of Arts.
Kim debuted in the 2012 film A Muse, portraying Eun-gyo, a 17-year-old student involved in a forbidden romance with a 70-year-old poet. Her performance was described by co-star Park Hae-il as “fresh, dreamy, and attractive,” earning her multiple Best New Actress awards that year. Despite her success, Kim sought to avoid being typecast, taking on diverse roles such as a woman with a developmental disability, an orphaned gang member, and a shaman— the role in Exhuma that secured her the Baeksang award.
In 2016, Kim transitioned to television with the drama Cheese in the Trap, followed by Goblin: The Lonely and Great God, which became an overnight sensation across Asia. In Goblin, she played a cheerful secondary school girl capable of ending the protagonist’s painful immortality by removing a sword from his chest.
Kim’s youthful and fresh-faced appearance has endeared her to fans, who often refer to her as having “girlish beauty.” Many fans in China draw comparisons between Kim and Chinese actress Tang Wei, noting similarities in their career trajectories. Tang also made her film debut in an R-rated movie and has won multiple prestigious South Korean film awards, including two Baeksang Best Actress awards for Late Autumn in 2010 and Decision to Leave in 2022.
Kim Go-eun’s dedication to her craft and her ability to tackle a wide range of characters continue to captivate audiences, solidifying her status as a versatile and talented actress in the international film industry.
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