Born in 1985, KIM Guk-hee has always loved stage performances. When she was young, she would often enter singing competitions, but lost interest when her voice started to change during her puberty. In middle school, she joined the school’s drama club on the recommendation of her Korean teacher, and, upon watching a performance of the popular Korean musical <Subway No. 1>, realized how fun musicals could be. But her enthusiasm was quickly curbed when she saw the rates...More

Born in 1985, KIM Guk-hee has always loved stage performances. When she was young, she would often enter singing competitions, but lost interest when her voice started to change during her puberty. In middle school, she joined the school’s drama club on the recommendation of her Korean teacher, and, upon watching a performance of the popular Korean musical <Subway No. 1>, realized how fun musicals could be. But her enthusiasm was quickly curbed when she saw the rates usually asked by acting schools. Instead, she went to auditions and in due course got her first role in 2003, in a stage musical named <Jangta>. Later that year, she decided to go to an audition for <Subway No. 1> instead of attending her own graduation ceremony, but was eventually declined. She would keep trying, though, and in 2007, after more than 20 auditions, she was finally cast as one of the passengers of <Subway No. 1> (2008). Thanks to applauded performances in the hit musicals <While You Are Sleeping> (performed from 2010 to 2014) and <Laundry> (from 2012 to 2016), KIM quickly emerged as Korean theatre’s go-to actor for playing grandmotherly characters, and has recently become one of the busiest actors in Daehangno, Seoul’s theatrical district. Her supporting role in the Korean production <Red Book> (2017-2018), which explores discrimination against women in the Victorian era, earned her Best Supporting Actress at the Yegreen Musical Awards and at the Korea Musical Awards. After a bit role in the crime action film <ONE-LINE> (2016) and lending her voice to an off-screen character in <1987: When the Day Comes> (2017), KIM debuted her screen career with a supporting role in the award-winning and KwangHwaMoon Cinema-produced indie drama <Microhabitat> (2017), and was later seen in the nostalgia-infused melodrama <Tune In for Love> (2019), starring KIM Go-eun and JUNG Hae-in. She also played on television in the office comedy series <No Work> (2018-2019).Less