Born in 1981, Kim Namgil kicked off his career when he appeared in the youth series <School 1> in 1999. After he won a talent contest organized by MBC in 2003, he was cast in a number of minor roles. Kim strayed away from TV by appearing in the queer film <No Regret> (2006), which became a breakout indie hit and screened in Berlin. His popularity soared in the following years, with increasingly prominent roles in successful TV series. Kim’s first leading role i...More

Born in 1981, Kim Namgil kicked off his career when he appeared in the youth series <School 1> in 1999. After he won a talent contest organized by MBC in 2003, he was cast in a number of minor roles. Kim strayed away from TV by appearing in the queer film <No Regret> (2006), which became a breakout indie hit and screened in Berlin. His popularity soared in the following years, with increasingly prominent roles in successful TV series. Kim’s first leading role in a film was in the 2008 period drama <Portrait of a Beauty>. Next for him was a breakout TV role in <Queen Seondeok>, which he followed up with the melodrama <Lovers Vanished>. After more TV shows, he returned to film in the hit swashbuckler <The Pirates> in 2014, starring alongside Son Yejin. A year later he appeared in the noirish romantic thriller <The Shameless> with Jeon Doyeon, in which he played a detective falling for the girlfriend of a murder victim he is investigating. The film debuted in the Un Certain Regard lineup of the Cannes Film Festival. Also in 2015, he appeared in the Joseon Era period drama <THE SOUND OF A FLOWER>, as the notorious late 19th-century regent Heungseon Daewongun who lusts after a pansori singer played by Bae Suzy. A pair of thrillers followed for Kim, ie. the revenge drama <A Murderer’s Guide to Memorization> with Sul Kyunggu and the disaster title <Pandora>. He also signed on to the Lee Yoonki melodrama <One Day> alongside Chun Woohee and ventured into comedy with <The Odd Family: Zombie on Sale>. After he played against Ha Jungwoo in the horror film <The Closet> (2020), Nam joined the main cast in Jung Woosung’s directorial debut <A Man of Reason> (2020) and made a short appearance in another debut film of an actor-turned-director, Lee Jungjae’s <HUNT> (2022). In 2022, he was back on the big screen, starring in the aviation disaster film <Emergency Declaration> (2022).Less