He dominates the screen with his upright image, his soft charisma, and his wide acting spectrum

Yim Siwan, a former member of the boy band ‘ZE:A’, made his debut as an actor in the TV series Moon Embracing the Sun (2012). His handsome and caring character made a strong impression on the audience, and his performance proved that he was capable of pulling off composed and sophisticated roles.    

The work that had a decisive role in launching Yim’s career in earnest was The Attorney (2013), starring Song Kangho. Yim Siwan played Jinwoo, a college student and night school teacher, embodying the oppressed youth under the harsh military dictatorship of the 1980s. Yim proved how much he progressed as an actor when his innocent face was distorted by the pain from torture. The scene where Jinwoo is dragged half-dead out of the reception room after he was submitted to blows, water torture and electric torture is the critical point of The Attorney that drew tears of anger from 10 million viewers and constitutes the best scene to “show how much Yim progressed. Actor Song Kangho praised Yim’s performance, saying, "He has all the qualities to be a good actor and shows a good attitude toward acting.”

Although he’s not a bulky guy, Yim Siwan’s performance is versatile enough to capture the atmosphere of the era. Appearing in the series Misaeng: Incomplete Life (2014) turned out to be a good opportunity for Yim to establish himself as an actor. The tears and laughter shown by Jang Geurae, a newbie office worker who struggles withing the brutal society, symbolize the joys and sorrows of young people and represent once again the faces of the youth of the era. However, playing Jang Geurae, which was well received by the audience, may have well shown only a fraction of Yim's ability explosive potential. Yim Siwan was in the spotlight for his powerful performance as Hyunsoo that dominated the entire plot in the action noir The Merciless (2017), which was invited to the Midnight Screenings at the Cannes Film Festival. In the film, Yim succeeded in dramatizing the inner side of Hyunsoo through his rough appearance as a gang member, thus breaking away from his previous image. In particular, the intense relationship between Jaeho (Sul Kyunggu) and Hyunsoo that goes beyond brotherhood shook the viewers’ hearts again. 

Yim refuses to limit his delicate, explosive performance and star quality that captivates the public to specific genres nor roles. In the youth drama series RUN ON last year, he played ‘Ki Seonkyum,’ a leading athlete in the track and field world, expanding his acting range to romantic comedies. This year, Yim Siwan is preparing to fly higher with a wide stage as his springboard. Following his second appearance on Cannes’ red carpet with the disaster blockbuster Emergency Declaration, which was invited to the Out of Competition category at the Cannes Film Festival in July, Yim has recently finished filming the thriller Stolen Identity, based on a best-selling novel of the same name in Japan. In Director Kang Jegyu's blockbuster Boston 1947, with its budget of KRW 19 billion, Yim Siwan is raising expectations by playing Seo Yunbok, a South Korean marathoner and hero who competed in the Boston International Marathon, the first international marathon event after World War II. Yim Siwan is set to go even farther in the future, running at his own pace, in a relaxed way, without being too impatient nor in a hurry.