1. Kim Hyun-joo began modeling in teen magazines when she was in her third year of high school.
23 Facts About Kim Hyun-joo
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Kim Hyun-joo achieved mainstream stardom in 2002, with her Cinderella-esque leading role in Glass Slippers, about two sisters who were separated as children and unknowingly encounter each other as adults.
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From late 2004 to 2005, Kim Hyun-joo played the heroine Choi Seo-hee in Toji, the Land, a television adaptation of Park Kyung-ni's celebrated novel Toji, which portrayed the lives and loves of peasants and the nobility in Korea at the turn of the 20th century, spanning from Japan's colonial rule to the division of the peninsula.
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The big-budget production was a hit, and Kim Hyun-joo received a Best TV Actress nomination at the 2006 Baeksang Arts Awards.
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Kim Hyun-joo later said she took a break because she hated being typecast in such sweet, wholesome roles.
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Kim Hyun-joo returned to television in 2007 with In-soon Is Pretty, playing the titular character who went to prison for unintentionally killing someone in high school, and after serving her sentence, must face prejudice as an ex-con while rebuilding her life.
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Kim then spent ten days in Vancouver, Whistler, and Victoria to film the documentary ECO Canada by Kim Hyun-joo, which aired on MBC Life.
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Kim Hyun-joo spent the rest of the year volunteering in Bangladesh and the Philippines as the goodwill ambassador for Good Neighbors, a humanitarian NGO.
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Kim Hyun-joo donated the condolence money collected for her father's funeral and a portion of her book sales to Good Neighbors, which was used to build libraries in 11 orphanages in impoverished areas of Dhaka.
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Kim Hyun-joo resumed her acting activities in 2011, playing the daughter from a wealthy publishing company whose life is turned upside down when she learns that she was switched at birth with another baby in Twinkle Twinkle.
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Kim Hyun-joo's performance garnered a Top Excellence Award at the MBC Drama Awards.
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In early 2014, Kim Hyun-joo began hosting Musical Journey to Yesterday, a music program in which a mix of current idol singers and industry veterans perform live hit songs from the 1970s to 1990s.
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Kim Hyun-joo's performance garnered the Top Excellence award at the KBS Drama Awards.
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Kim Hyun-joo won the Top Excellence Top Excellence Award from the APAN Star Awards and SBS Drama Awards.
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Kim Hyun-joo starred in the drama series Fantastic, portraying a screenwriter grappling with a terminal illness.
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Kim Hyun-joo described her character as a dormant volcano waiting to erupt, adding depth and complexity to the show's storyline.
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In 2019, Kim Hyun-joo starred in OCN's drama Watcher, portraying a criminal lawyer who had once been a highly promising prosecutor.
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Kim Hyun-joo's performance garnered rave reviews, with critics praising her for creating a wholly unique and independent character, unlike any that they had seen before.
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In 2020, Kim Hyun-joo starred in Undercover, a JTBC's remake of the British BBC drama of the same name.
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That same year, Kim Hyun-joo was confirmed to join the cast of Hellbound, a Netflix series directed by Yeon Sang-ho.
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Kim Hyun-joo portrayed the character of Min Hye-jin, an attorney who courageously stands up against religious extremists.
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In December 2022, Kim Hyun-joo starred in SBS's drama Trolley as the wife of a National Assembly member.
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In 2023, Kim Hyun-joo starred in the Netflix sci-fi film Jung-E directed by Hellbound director Yeon Sang-ho, in the title role of a legendary mercenary who is the subject of brain-clone testing.