Kim Tae hee

Early life and education

Kim Tae-hee was born on 29 March 1980 in Busan, South Korea. Her father is Kim Yoo Moon, who established and is chairman of Hankook Union Transportation Company in 1984. She is often involved in various charities to help out underserved youths and broken families in the Ulsan area. She has an older sister, Kim Hee-won, and a younger brother, Lee Wan; the latter is also an actor and appeared in her television series Stairway to Heaven. Kim's family moved to Ulsan when she was a child, and she was raised in that city. She attended Samshin Elementary School, Daehyun Middle School (대현중학교) and then enrolled at Ulsan Girls' High School.

In 1999, Kim moved to Seoul to attend college at the prestigious Seoul National University, where she became the president of the SNU Women's Ski Club. In 2005, she graduated from SNU with a bachelor's degree in fashion design.

2001–2002: Beginnings

In 2000, an advertising executive saw Kim riding the subway, and offered her a modeling job. Kim appeared in television commercials and print ads, before making her acting debut with a small role in the 2001 melodrama Last Present. In 2002, she starred in the short film Living in New Town and the sitcom Let's Go, followed by Screen and A Problem at My Younger Brother's House in 2003.

2003–2006: Rising popularity and Film debut

Kim rose to stardom in 2003 via her portrayal of the evil stepsister in the popular SBS TV series Stairway to Heaven. Starting 2004, Kim was cast in leading roles in her succeeding projects, including the supernatural KBS series Forbidden Love and the SBS campus romance Love Story in Harvard. The latter drew solid viewership ratings nationwide throughout its run with a peak viewer rating of 20 percent and won Kim the Most Popular Actress award in TV category at the Baeksang Arts Awards. Love Story in Harvard was also reportedly well-received by Japanese viewers and contributed to Kim's popularity in the country.

Riding the big success of Stairway to Heaven and Love Story in Harvard, Kim became one of the most sought-after faces in the TV commercial industry. She was picked by Korea Broadcast Advertising Corporation as the top advertising model of the year in 2008, earning her title of "CF Queen". However, Kim expressed her desire to be valued properly as an actor, preferring to succeed based on her acting skills rather than her image.

Kim then turned to film, starring in action fantasy epic The Restless (2006), and the romantic comedy Venus and Mars (2007). However, both were unsuccessful at the box office.

2009–2014: Iris and rising overseas popularity

Back on the small screen in 2009, Kim played an NIS profiler in the spy action thriller Iris. It was one of the most expensive Korean dramas ever produced and was a critical and commercial success with an average viewership rating of 30%. Kim shed tears at the KBS Drama Awards when she won an Excellence Award in a Mid-length Drama; which was her first acting award, excluding newcomer and popularity awards.

Kim left her then-agency Namoo Actors in January 2010 to join Lua Entertainment, which was founded by her brother-in-law. That year, she also played a horse jockey who dreams of winning the championship in the sports film Grand Prix.

After the success of Iris, she again drew positive reviews in the romantic comedy series My Princess (2011); Kim played an ordinary college student who discovers that she is Korean royalty. Later that year, she starred in her first Japanese television drama Boku to Star no 99 Nichi, where her character is a Korean Wave star who meets an ordinary Japanese bodyguard and he somehow makes her fall head over heels in love with him. The Fuji TV drama, which aired in Japan from October to December in 2011, raked in 9 to 10 percent of viewers’ ratings on average, launching Kim into a household name in Japan. Kim later encountered backlash from some Japanese netizens for her participation in a 2005 rally in Switzerland supporting South Korea's claim in the Dokdo Islets territorial dispute.

In 2013, Kim starred in her first historical period drama Jang Ok-jung, Living by Love as the infamous royal concubine Hui-bin Jang. This was followed by another period role, as the wife of famed Chinese calligrapher Wang Xizhi in the Chinese television drama Saint Wang Xizhi.

2015–present: Career resurgence

Kim returned to Korean television in 2015, playing a heiress who recovers from a coma with the help of a doctor-for-hire, the titular Yong-pal. The show garnered strong ratings and Kim won a Top Excellence Acting award from the Korea Drama Awards.

Personal life

In September 2012, Kim started dating South Korean singer-actor Rain. After five years of dating, they were married on January 19, 2017. On May 23, Kim's agency Lua Entertainment announced that Kim is pregnant with their first child.