1999: Early career Kim Min-hee began
modeling when she was in middle school, and soon appeared as a cover girl in teen magazines. In 1999, she was cast in the campus drama
School 2 (1999–2000) as a rebellious high school girl, which launched her to stardom. She became a popular young star at barely 20 years old, appearing in
TV dramas and movies. However, a string of poor acting performances brought her negative
criticism. Critics and viewers disparagingly called her an "attractive but blank actress," more famous for being a fashion icon and actor
Lee Jung-jae's then-girlfriend. Her succeeding movie roles helped solidify her career reinvention, beginning with 2008's
Hellcats (also known as (), a light-hearted comedy that explored the lives and loves of three women at different stages of womanhood. Kim played an aspiring screenwriter in her twenties who's agonizing over her insecure career and shaky romance with a deadbeat musician boyfriend. Reviews praised her "compelling performance," and she later won Best Actress at the
Baeksang Arts Awards and the
Busan Film Critics Awards. Kim then joined the all-star cast of
Actresses (2009), a semi-
improvisational
mockumentary directed by
E J-yong (whom she had previously worked with in
Asako in Ruby Shoes). Set during a
Vogue Korea photo shoot, Kim gets upset in the film over a remark by a staffer that men don't find skinny women like her attractive, as compared to her more voluptuous costar
Kim Ok-vin. A supporting turn as a reporter in conspiracy film
Moby Dick followed in 2011. Kim further stretched the limits of her acting range in psychological thriller
Helpless (2012),
adapted from
Miyabe Miyuki's novel
All She Was Worth (in
Japanese, "one-way train/fire chariot to hell"). She said she had absolute trust in director
Byun Young-joo and never even checked the monitors, and Byun was likewise complimentary, saying, "I ended up adding more scenes for her to act because she was just exceptional. She knew what she was doing, and knew she was able to pull it off. She was rarely nervous throughout the production. She's got no fear and is always confident." Kim said the role gave her a chance to show what she was capable of as an actress, adding, "I feel differently about acting now. I often feel a tremendous sense of achievement and really enjoy doing this job." Displaying a striking screen presence as a mysterious girl who disappears without a trace while her bewildered fiancé discovers a trail of falsified information, Kim received several acting nominations and won Best Actress at the
Buil Film Awards. In 2013, Kim again earned raves for her performance in
Very Ordinary Couple. Unlike the typical romantic comedy, the relationship drama told a more realistic story of an on-and-off couple of three years. During her acceptance speech as Best Actress at the
2013 Baeksang Arts Awards, Kim thanked her costar
Lee Min-ki and director
Roh Deok, who "helped shape (her) character Young on the screen."
Action-
noir No Tears for the Dead followed in 2014, in which she played a grieving woman who becomes a hitman's target. Kim next starred in
Hong Sang-soo's critically acclaimed film
Right Now, Wrong Then (2015), which won her Best Actress at the
Busan Film Critics Awards. Kim shot to international stardom for her performance in the award-winning film
The Handmaiden,
Park Chan-wook's 2016 film adaptation of
Fingersmith set in
1930s Korea. Park called her "the most coveted a-list actress at the moment." In 2017, Kim became the first Korean actress to win the
Silver Bear for Best Actress at the
Berlin International Film Festival for her performance in the film
On the Beach at Night Alone. In 2018, she starred in
Grass and
Hotel by the River. Kim starred in
The Woman Who Ran (2020) which won the
Silver Bear for Best Director at the
70th Berlin International Film Festival. In 2020,
The New York Times ranked Kim sixteenth on its list of "The 25 Greatest Actors of the 21st Century". Kim received the
Best Performance Award at the
77th Locarno Film Festival for her role as university acting instructor Jeonim in the 2024 Hong Sang-soo drama
By the Stream. ==Personal life==