Becoming a more common face and name in Korea’s drama and movie world, Kim Yoo-jung’s work is not to be missed by those who are fans of Korean entertainment. Kim was a prominent child actress and made her acting debut when she was only four years old, and earned the title “Nation’s Little Sister” due to her age and prominence. By 2017, she was on the Forbes Korea Power Celebrity list at the age of 17, making her the youngest person on the list. Even as a child, she portrayed a variety of roles, whether it was the younger version of the main female protagonist or a separate character of her own.
Kim became most well-known for her appearances in historical dramas, or saeguk dramas, but she has appeared as a main lead in contemporary romance dramas as well that have been popular all over the world. Although Kim has become primarily known for her dramas, she also boasts an incredible filmography despite her age. One of her earliest film appearances was in Park Chan-wook’s film, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance, where she portrayed a young character. Kim will soon make an appearance on the web series Chicken Nugget as a character who ends up turning into a chicken nugget. Until then, these are her best movie and television shows so far.
12 Commitment
Commitment came out in 2013 when the K-pop group Big Bang was at the height of its popularity. Commitment stars Big Bang member Choi Seung-hyeon (known as T.O.P) as the son of a celebrated North Korean agent. But when his father falls from grace and dies, his character and his sister (Kim) are sent to a labor camp in North Korea. A deal is proposed to him: if he receives the proper training and is sent to South Korea for a mission, his sister will be saved from the labor camp. If he fails, their situation might get a lot worse.
11 Thread of Lies
2014’s Thread of Lies deals with many relevant topics not only in South Korea, but across the world. A widowed mother is the protagonist, and one day, her 14-year-old daughter kills herself without leaving a note or a reason why. With her surviving daughter, they try to find out the reason why she killed herself, as they are struggling with the impacts of her death and the implications of why she did what she did. Through a nonlinear format, the viewers may realize that the girl’s bully (Kim Yoo-jung), might have issues of her own.
10 Hwang Jini
Hwang Jini tells the story of one of Korea’s most famous kisaengs, Hwang Jin-yi. Kisaengs, who were trained women courtesans that specialized in the arts, were considered one of the lowest social classes in Joseon’s history. Ha Ji-won portrays Hwang during her lifetime in the 1500s, and how Jin-yi, despite her mother not wanting her daughter to follow the same path, becomes a kisaeng. The show tells the story of her many love affairs throughout her lifetime, whether doomed or successful and what made her work so extraordinary in a time where women were seen as inferior.
9 The 8th Night
Netflix’s The 8th Night is a mystery thriller that blends the past with the present. In the universe the movie is set inside, a monster came into the human world and wreaked havoc on the mortals. When the monster was contained by the Buddha, it was scattered in two different locations with instructions for them to never meet. But in the present day, a professor wants to prove their existence and purposely seeks them out, leading to the potential resurrection of the monster. As things begin to escalate, the clock’s ticking becomes even louder.
8 Clean with Passion for Now
A drama that came out in 2018, Clean With Passion for Now is based on a webtoon of the same name. In this show, the male lead has it all: money, looks, and the life people envy from the outside. However, he can’t live and work in a space that isn’t clean, as he has mysophobia. His world is turned upside down when he meets a girl named Gil Oh-sol (Kim), who isn’t neat at all. Struggling with her professional life, as she has to work multiple jobs, she ends up getting on his bad side. But the more time they spend together, the more he learns to conquer his fears.
7 Because I Love You
Cha Tae-hyun and Kim Yoo-jung star in 2017’s Because I Love You, an anthology film reminiscent of the movie The Beauty Inside. The protagonist in this movie is Lee Hyeong, whose spirit accidentally gets put into the bodies of people whose love lives aren’t the best. This happens after an accident, and because he was a talented songwriter before the accident happened, he seems to be the perfect candidate for the job of setting these people up with love before his spirit moves on. A high schooler (Kim Yoo-jung) ends up being his spiritual guide during this process.
6 Love in the Moonlight
Park Bo-gum, Kim Yoo-jung, and Park Jin-young, among others, are a few of the big names that star in the drama Love in the Moonlight. It tells the tale of the young prince Lee Yeong, who was a member of the royal family in Joseon during the 1800s. The drama follows his coming-of-age story, including how he falls in love with a eunuch (Kim) that is a woman in disguise. The drama was a massive hit in South Korea and abroad and was based on a web novel called Moonlight Drawn by Clouds.
5 Backstreet Rookie
Released in 2020, Ji Chang-wook and Kim Yoo-jung’s Backstreet Rookie was based on a webtoon. After Ji’s character’s girlfriend breaks up with him, he spirals. Working within a convenience store, his issues grow when a high schooler (Kim) asks for his help to buy cigarettes. He is urged by his family to hire a part-time worker, and it ends up being the girl who asked him for the cigarettes. Their story, despite the initial resistance from him, ends up becoming a love story throughout the drama’s sixteen episodes.
4 Lovers of the Red Sky
Lovers of the Red Sky came out in 2021, and imagines if ghosts, demons, and gods were real concepts in the human world. A historical drama, the show takes place during the Dan dynasty. A painter (Kim) and astrologer (Ahn Hyo-seop) find their paths colliding, as the talented painter, finds the source of her talents in him. At the same time, the painter is the only female painter in the kingdom, adding even more complications to their story, as the astrologer is also blind.
3 20th Century Girl
2022’s 20th Century Girl stars Kim Yoo-jung in the lead role of Na Bo-ra. After her best friend goes abroad to get a delicate surgery, she is left with very specific instructions. Her friend has a crush on someone she referred to as Baek Hyun-jin, and she wants Bo-ra to befriend him while she’s gone. As Bo-ra does just that, she becomes closer to his best friend, Woon-ho. In the process, she ends up falling in love with Woon-ho and they date, but when her friend returns, everything is going to be upturned as Na Bo-ra realizes she got something wrong in the instructions left for her.
2 Sympathy for Lady Vengeance
The third in Park Chan-wook’s Vengeance Trilogy, Sympathy for Lady Vengeance is unique because of how it switches the main character from a man to a woman. Lee Geum-ja has just been released from jail due to how she represented a model citizen during her time there, even though her crime seems awful: she was accused of kidnapping and murdering a six-year-old. Upon her release, the truth is revealed: she’s on a mission for revenge for the actual culprit of the crime, who was a schoolteacher who blackmailed her and separated her from her child. Now looking for vengeance, she will do whatever it takes to stop him.
1 Moon Embracing the Sun
A 2012 drama that was immensely popular when it first came out, Moon Embracing the Sun was the breakout show that launched Kim Soo-hyun into the limelight. Kim Yoo-jung, too, found her popularity growing as a child actress because she played the younger version of the female lead. In the drama, the Queen Dowager wants her stepson assassinated so that her son has no rivals when it comes to the ascension of the throne, and a pregnant wife of the Chief Scholar escapes. Her daughter (Han Ga-in) will grow up to be the one the Crown Prince falls in love with, but the Queen Dowager disapproves of this, making everything so much harder for the young lovers.
This story originally appeared on Movieweb
