Kim Hye-ja

Kim drew international critical acclaim in the noir thriller Mother (2009), The Light in Your Eyes (2019), Our Blues (2022) and Heavenly Ever After (2025).

• Name — Kim Hye-ja • Born — 25 October 1941 • Birthplace — Keijō, Korea, Empire of Japan. • Education — Ewha Womans University (dropped out) • Occupation — * Actress • humanitarian • Years Active — 1963–present • Children — 2 • Honours — Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit (2019)

Kim was born on October 25, 1941, in Keijō, Korea, Empire of Japan (present-day Gyeonggi Province, Seoul, South Korea). Kim was studying Living Art at Ewha Womans University when she dropped out of college to pursue a career in acting.

• Illustration — Kim c. 1963 Kim made her acting debut in 1963, and went on to star in more than 90 television dramas, including I Sell Happiness (1978), Sand Castle (1988), Winter Mist (1989), What Is Love? (1991), My Mother's Sea (1993), You and I (1997), and Roses and Beansprouts (1999). Country Diaries, in which she appeared for 22 years, is particularly notable for making Kim into a household name and cementing her image among South Korean audiences as an iconic, unconditionally loving and self-sacrificing mother. Because of this wholesome onscreen persona, CJ CheilJedang hired her to endorse their products and appear in their advertisements for nearly 30 years, from 1975 to 2002. Though she won Best Actress at the Manila International Film Festival in 1983 for Late Autumn and occasionally acted in stage plays and musicals, Kim was most active in television for four decades. She holds the record of having won the Grand Prize (Daesang) at the MBC Drama Awards the most times (3): in 1988, 1992, and 1999. Kim is the first and only person to have won the Daesang four times at the Baeksang Arts Awards: in 1979, 1989, 2009, and 2019. As Kim grew older, she expressed her disappointment in being relegated to supporting roles. Then in 2008, screenwriter Kim Soo-hyun cast Kim in the leading role of a woman who declares a one-year break from her family after spending decades as a housewife looking after her three children, a husband and a widowed father-in-law in Mom's Dead Upset. Kim's character broke free from stereotypical South Korean TV mothers in her desire for independence, and initial misgivings that viewers would find her unsympathetic turned out to be unfounded, with the series recording a peak viewership rating of 42.7%. But 2009 marked another turning point in Kim's career, when she was cast in her first film a decade after Mayonnaise (1999). Acclaimed director Bong Joon-ho had long been an enthusiastic admirer of Kim's, and he said he'd wanted to make a film centered around the veteran actress, then it occurred to him that being the national symbol of motherhood might be as much a burden for Kim as it was an honor. So he decided to craft a role that would showcase Kim's talents and depict the duality of motherhood, then spent four years convincing her to take the role. In Mother, Kim surprised Korean audiences with her intense performance as a middle-aged single mother who obsessively loves her mentally handicapped son and sets out to prove his innocence when he's accused of murder. Bong said he would have given up the project if Kim had not accepted his offer, "Without Kim Hye-ja, Mother wouldn't exist." Kim returned the compliment, saying Bong helped her "reactivate all the cells that have been dormant in (her) body." The film received critical acclaim from domestic audiences and international film festivals, and Kim won numerous acting awards. She was the first ever Korean actress to be named Best Actress by the Los Angeles Film Critics Association. From 2011 to 2012, Kim headlined Living Among the Rich, one of the inaugural programs of newly launched cable channel jTBC. It was Kim's first sitcom in her 48-year career, and it followed her character as she and her family move into a rundown building in the wealthy area of southern Seoul and struggle to keep pace with their well-off neighbors. She returned to the theater in 2013 to 2014 with Oscar, Letters to God, a Korean stage adaptation of the French novel Oscar and the Lady in Pink. In the one-woman show, Kim played 11 roles, including Oscar, a 10-year-old boy dying of leukemia, and the nurse (named Jang-mi or Granny Rose) that he confides in. In late 2014, she played a rich and fussy widow in How to Steal a Dog, based on the same-titled novel by Barbara O'Connor.

Kim has been a goodwill ambassador for the nonprofit Christian relief organization World Vision Korea since 1991. She has visited refugee camps in war-torn and poverty-stricken regions in more than 20 countries around the globe, including Ethiopia, Kenya, India, Bangladesh and Sierra Leone, and sponsors 103 children from underdeveloped countries. In 2004, she wrote and published a book based on her experiences titled Don't Beat Someone, Even with Flowers, and donated all proceeds from its sales to underprivileged children in North Korea.

In March 2023, Kim donated 100 million to help 2023 Turkey–Syria earthquake, by donating money through World Vision.

• Year — Title — Role — Ref. Reference(s) • 1969 — Frog Husband • 1971 — Chief Inspector • 1975 — Bride Diary • 1977 — I Regret It • 1978 — I Sell Happiness • Even If the Wind Blows • 1979 — Mom, I Like Dad • 1980 — Country Diaries (until 2002) — Chairman Kim's wife • Gan-yang-rok • Terminal • 1981 — Let Us Love • 1982 — Yesterday and Tomorrow • 1983 — Infant • 1984 — Missing • 1985 — 500 Years of Joseon: "The Wind Orchid" — Queen Munjeong • 1986 — First Love • 1988 — Sand Castle — Jang Hyun-joo • 1989 — The 2nd Republic — Kim Ok-sook • Winter Mist — Seo Myung-ae • Your Toast — Jin Sang-shim • A Happy Woman • 1990 — What Do Women Want? — Jung-hee • Still Forty-nine • 1991 — What Is Love? — Yeo Soon-ja • 1992 — Two Women — Oh Hye-jung • 1993 — My Mother's Sea — Young-hee • 1994 — A Human Land — Kim Shil-dan • 1995 — Woman — Song Min-sook • 1996 — Salted Mackerel — Kim Gong-shim • 1997 — Your Mother's Story • You and I — Kim Eun-soon • 1999 — Roses and Beansprouts — Lee Pil-nyeo • 2002 — Since We Met — Jo Nam-deuk • 2004 — The Autumn of Major General Hong — Heo Young-sook • 2005 — Smile of Spring Day — Park Nae-soon • 2006 — Princess Hours — Queen Dowager Park • 2008 — Mom's Dead Upset — Kim Han-ja • 2011 — Living Among the Rich — Kim Hye-ja • 2015 — Unkind Ladies — Kang Soon-ok • 2016 — Dear My Friends — Jo Hee-ja • 2019 — The Light in Your Eyes — Kim Hye-ja • 2021 — Country Diaries 2021 — Chairman Kim's wife • 2022 — Our Blues — Kang Ok-dong • 2025 — Heavenly Ever After — Lee Hae-sook

• Year — Title — Role • 1987 — Before the Rooster Crows Over Judah • 1991 — 19 and 80 — Maude • 1997 — King David • The Marriage of Figaro • Our Broadway Mama • 2001 — Shirley Valentine — Shirley Valentine • 2007 — Doubt — Sister Aloysius • 2013–2014 — Oscar, Letters to God — Oscar/Jang-mi/Parents/Peggy Blue etc.

Name of publisher, year listed, name of listicle, and placement • Publisher — Year — List — Placement — Ref. Reference(s) • KBS — 2023 — The 50 people who made KBS shine • Korean Film Council — 2021 — Korean Actors 200

Year presented, name of the award ceremony, award category, nominated work and the result of the nomination • Year — Award — Category — Nominated work — Result • 1966 — 2nd Baeksang Arts Awards — Best New Actress (TV) • 1976 — 12th Baeksang Arts Awards — Best Actress (TV) — Bride Diary • 1978 — 14th Baeksang Arts Awards — You • 1979 — 15th Baeksang Arts Awards — Grand Prize (Daesang) for TV — I Sell Happiness • Best Actress (TV) • 1982 — 21st Grand Bell Awards — Best Actress — Late Autumn • 1983 — 2nd Manila International Film Festival • 1988 — 24th Dong-A Theatre Awards — 19 and 80 • MBC Drama Awards — Grand Prize (Daesang) — Sand Castle • 1989 — 16th Korea Broadcasting Awards — Best Actress — Winter Mist • 25th Baeksang Arts Awards — Grand Prize (Daesang) for TV — Winter Mist, Sand Castle • Best Actress (TV) • 1992 — MBC Drama Awards — Grand Prize (Daesang) — What Is Love? • 1996 — 4th Korea Advertisers Association Consumer's Choice — Good Model Award • 1999 — 36th Grand Bell Awards — Best Actress — Mayonnaise • 1st Social Welfare Day — Presidential Commendation • MBC Drama Awards — Grand Prize (Daesang) — Roses and Beansprouts • 1st Elizabeth Arden Visible Difference Awards — Recipient • 2002 — MBC Hall of Fame • 2003 — 14th Wiam Jang Ji-yeon Prize • 2nd Star 선행 대상 • 1st Feminist Award in Pop Culture and Arts • 2008 — KBS Drama Awards — Grand Prize (Daesang) — Mom's Dead Upset • Top Excellence Award, Actress • 2009 — 45th Baeksang Arts Awards — Grand Prize (Daesang) for TV • Best Actress (TV) • 2nd Style Icon Awards — Beautiful Sharing Award • 18th Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival — Best Actress in a Foreign Film — Mother • 3rd Asia Pacific Screen Awards — Best Actress • 30th Blue Dragon Film Awards — Best Leading Actress • 10th Busan Film Critics Awards — Best Actress • 29th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards • 18th Buil Film Awards • 46th Grand Bell Awards • 12th Director's Cut Awards • 10th Women in Film Korea Awards • Cine 21 Awards • 2010 — Asian Film Critics Association Awards • 1st KOFRA Film Awards • 7th Max Movie Awards • IndieWire Critics Poll — 5th place • Village Voice Film Poll — 3rd place • Dublin Film Critics' Circle — 5th place • 4th Asian Film Awards — Best Actress • 46th Baeksang Arts Awards — Best Actress (Film) • 36th Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards — Best Actress • 14th Online Film Critics Society Awards — Best Actress • World Vision International — Special Award • 2011 — 17th Chlotrudis Awards — Best Actress — Mother • 1st Beautiful Artists Awards — Recipient • 30th Sejong Culture Award — Recipient, Social Volunteering category • 2014 — 9th Interpark Golden Ticket Awards — Best Actress in a Play — Oscar, Letters to God • 2015 — 24th Buil Film Awards — Best Supporting Actress — How to Steal a Dog • 52nd Grand Bell Awards • KBS Drama Awards — Top Excellence Award, Actress — Unkind Ladies • Excellence Award, Actress in a Mid-length Drama • PD Award (chosen by PDs from KBS, SBS & MBC) • 4th CARI K Drama Awards — Best Supporting Actress • 2016 — tvN10 Awards — Best Actress — Dear My Friends • 2019 — 55th Baeksang Arts Awards — Grand Prize (Daesang) for TV — The Light in Your Eyes • Best Actress (TV) • 24th Asian Television Awards — Best Actress in a Leading Role

List of State Honour(s) • State — Award Ceremony — Year — Honor — Ref. Reference(s) • South Korea — Korean Popular Culture and Arts Awards — 2019 — Eungwan Order of Cultural Merit