Early life

Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea on November 7, 1973. She immigrated to the United States with her family in 1980. They lived on Staten Island, New York. She joined the middle school drama club in the 7th grade and performed in the musical My Fair Lady.

Kim attended high school at the prestigious Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts, a public high school located in Manhattan. From there, she went on to study drama at the London Academy of Performing Arts and later earned her BFA degree in drama at Boston University. Kim has remarked that in her zeal to become Americanized quickly, she studied acting, academics and pronunciation with equal intensity. She is also a trained dancer and martial arts fighter.

Career

After graduation, Kim devoted herself full-time to acting. She garnered several minor parts on MTV, in soap opera-style dramas on ABC, and on the off-Broadway stage. In 1997, she starred in Splendid Holiday, a Korean TV drama shot on location in New York. Kim decided to return to Korea. She was cast in the TV drama Wedding Dress and was also invited to act in Lee Kwangmo's feature Spring in My Hometown, although she ended up not taking this role. Her breakthrough debut came in the 1999 film Shiri, South Korea's first blockbuster film. Shiri became the highest grossing film in Korean history at the time. In November 2000, she continued her association with KangJeGyu in The Legend of Gingko.

After acting in a Japanese film and a feature set in Los Angeles, Kim appeared in the sci-fi feature Yesterday. Then in 2002, Kim took the lead role in Ardor, the feature film debut of documentarist Byun Young-ju. The film was invited to screen in a non-competitive section at the 2003 Berlin film festival.

In 2004, Kim started appearing in the U.S. television series Lost, which ran for six seasons.

In May 2006, Maxim named Kim number 98 on its annual Hot 100 List. In October 2006 she was featured on the cover of Stuff, as well as an inside spread.

In 2013, she had a leading role in the ABC drama series Mistresses.

Personal life

Kim married her former manager Jeong Hyeok Park in March 2010 on the island of Oahu, after shooting her final scenes for Lost.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1999	Shiri	Lee Myung-hyun / Lee Bang-hee
2000	The Legend of Gingko	Yeon
2001	Rush!	Seo-yeong
2002	Iron Palm	Ji-ni
2002	Yesterday	Kim Hisu / No Hisu
2002	Ardor	Mi-heun
2005	Diary of June	Seo Yun-hee
2007	Mother
2008	Seven Days	Yoo Ji-yeon
2010	Harmony	Jeong-hye
2011	Heartbeat	Chae Yeon-hee
2012	The Neighbor	Kyung-hee
2014	Ode to My Father	Young-ja

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1996	Splendid Holiday (화려한 휴가)
1997	Foreboding (예감)	Jang Se-young	16 episodes
1998	Wedding Dress drama (1997) (웨딩 드레스)	Gina	22 episodes
1999	Love in 3 Colors (유정)	Jang Hee-ju	56 episodes
2004-10	Lost	Sun-Hwa Kwon	Main role, 88 episodes
2013-present	Mistresses	Karen Kim	Main role, 39 episodes

Video games

Year	Title	Voice role
2007	Lost: Via Domus	Sun-Hwa Kwon
2012	Sleeping Dogs	Tiffany Kim

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Recipient	Result
1999	36th Grand Bell Awards	Best New Actress	Shiri	Won
1999	19th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards	Best New Actress	Shiri	Won
2002	23rd Blue Dragon Awards	Best Actress	Milae	Won
2006	Asian Excellence Awards	Outstanding Television Actress	Lost	Won
2006	12th Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series	Lost	Won
2007	44th Grand Bell Awards	Best Actress	Seven Days	Won
2008	29th Blue Dragon Awards	Best Actress	Seven Days	Nominated
2009	35th Saturn Awards	Best Supporting Television Actress	Lost	Nominated
2015	52nd Grand Bell Awards	Best Actress	Ode to My Father	Nominated

[ Source: Wikipedia ]