Yunjin Kim (Hangul: 김윤진), also known as Kim Yun-Jin (born November 7, 1973) is a South Korean-American film and theater actress. She is best known for her role as Sun-Hwa Kwon on the American television series ''
Lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
*Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
* Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
'', and as the North Korean spy Bang-Hee in the South Korean film ''
Shiri''. She also starred as Dr. Karen Kim in the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
drama series ''
Mistresses
Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to:
Romance and relationships
* Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a d ...
''.
Early life
Kim was born in
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...
, South Korea. She immigrated to the United States with her family in 1983-1984. They lived in
Staten Island, New York. She joined the middle school drama club in the 7th grade and performed in the musical ''
My Fair Lady
''My Fair Lady'' is a musical based on George Bernard Shaw's 1913 play '' Pygmalion'', with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe. The story concerns Eliza Doolittle, a Cockney flower girl who takes speech lessons ...
''.
Kim attended high school at the prestigious
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, a public high school located in
Manhattan
Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
. From there, she went on to study drama at the London Academy of Performing Arts and later earned her
BFA degree in drama at
Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with ...
. Kim has remarked that in her zeal to become Americanized quickly, she studied acting, academics and pronunciation with equal intensity. She is also a trained dancer and martial arts fighter.
Career
After graduation, Kim devoted herself full-time to acting. She garnered several minor parts on MTV, in soap opera-style dramas on
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
, and on the
off-Broadway stage. In 1997, she starred in ''Splendid Holiday'', a Korean TV drama shot on location in New York. Kim decided to return to Korea. She was cast in the TV drama ''
Wedding Dress
A wedding dress or bridal gown is the dress worn by the bride during a wedding ceremony. The color, style and ceremonial importance of the gown can depend on the religion and culture of the wedding participants. In Western cultures and Anglo ...
'' and was also invited to act in Lee Kwangmo's feature ''
Spring in My Hometown'', although she ended up not taking this role. Her breakthrough debut came in the 1999 film ''
Shiri'', South Korea's first blockbuster film. ''Shiri'' became the highest-grossing film in Korean history at the time. In November 2000, she continued her association with
Kang Je-gyu
Kang Je-gyu (born December 23, 1962) is a South Korean film director.
Career
After graduating from ChungAng University, Kang received his first prize at the Korea Youth Film Festival and Korea Scenario Awards in 1991.
Kang's most notable con ...
in ''
The Legend of Gingko''.
After acting in a Japanese film and a feature set in Los Angeles, Kim appeared in the sci-fi feature ''
Yesterday''. Then in 2002, Kim took the lead role in ''
Ardor'', the feature film debut of documentarist
Byun Young-ju. The film was invited to screen in a non-competitive section at the 2003
Berlin film festival.
In 2004, Kim started appearing in the U.S. television series ''
Lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
*Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
* Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
'', which ran for six seasons.
In May 2006, ''
Maxim
Maxim or Maksim may refer to:
Entertainment
* ''Maxim'' (magazine), an international men's magazine
** ''Maxim'' (Australia), the Australian edition
** ''Maxim'' (India), the Indian edition
*Maxim Radio, ''Maxim'' magazine's radio channel on Sir ...
'' named Kim number 98 on its annual Hot 100 List. In October 2006 she was featured on the cover of ''
Stuff'', as well as an inside spread.
In 2013, she had a leading role in the ABC drama series ''
Mistresses
Mistress is the feminine form of the English word "master" (''master'' + ''-ess'') and may refer to:
Romance and relationships
* Mistress (lover), a term for a woman who is in a sexual and romantic relationship with a man who is married to a d ...
''.
In 2018, Kim returned to Korean television by headlining the series ''
Ms. Ma, Nemesis''.
In 2022, she starred as Seon Woo-jin in the korean remake of Money Heist, ''
Money Heist: Korea - Joint Economic Area''.
Personal life
Kim married her former manager Park Jeong-hyeok in March 2010 on the island of
Oahu
Oahu () ( Hawaiian: ''Oʻahu'' ()), also known as "The Gathering Place", is the third-largest of the Hawaiian Islands. It is home to roughly one million people—over two-thirds of the population of the U.S. state of Hawaii. The island of O†...
, after shooting her final scenes for ''
Lost
Lost may refer to getting lost, or to:
Geography
*Lost, Aberdeenshire, a hamlet in Scotland
* Lake Okeechobee Scenic Trail, or LOST, a hiking and cycling trail in Florida, US
History
*Abbreviation of lost work, any work which is known to have bee ...
''.
Filmography
Film
Television
Video games
Awards and nominations
References
External links
*
Official Website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kim, Yunjin
Living people
Actresses from New York City
Actresses from Seoul
American television actresses
Boston University College of Fine Arts alumni
People from Staten Island
South Korean emigrants to the United States
South Korean television actresses
South Korean film actresses
20th-century American actresses
21st-century American actresses
20th-century South Korean actresses
21st-century South Korean actresses
American actresses of Korean descent
American voice actresses
American video game actresses
South Korean video game actresses
South Korean voice actresses
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni
Alumni of the British American Drama Academy
1973 births