KIM Myung-min, born in 1972, started his career when he won the public TV actor audition held by broadcaster SBS in 1996. Having honed his acting with various TV series, he was first noticde for his outstanding performance in the horror film <Sorum> (2001), which won him a few Best New Actor awards. However, injuries sustained on the set of a TV series and several cancellations of film projects put a damper on his career, to the point where he had to give up his stage c...More

KIM Myung-min, born in 1972, started his career when he won the public TV actor audition held by broadcaster SBS in 1996. Having honed his acting with various TV series, he was first noticde for his outstanding performance in the horror film <Sorum> (2001), which won him a few Best New Actor awards. However, injuries sustained on the set of a TV series and several cancellations of film projects put a damper on his career, to the point where he had to give up his stage career. His eventual comeback couldn’t have been more dramatic as he landed the role of the titular national hero in historical drama series <Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin> (2004-2005), bringing him wide recognition. He then portrayed a doctor in medical series <Behind the White Tower> (2007) and an orchestra conductor in musical series <Beethoven Virus> (2008). He became gaunt and sick after losing a lot of weight (nearly 20 kg) to play a man fighting Lou Gehrig's disease in <Closer to Heaven> in 2009. Playing a man with little time left to live, he successfully conveyed grief and affection through his calm yet intense eyes. All his efforts were not in vain as he won that year Best Actor at both the Grand Bell Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Awards, the two most prestigious film award ceremonies in Korea. KIM finally starred in 2010 in a commercially successful film, the period comedy adventure <Detective K: Secret of a Virtuous Widow>, which drew 4.8 million audiences in Korea. KIM scored another major hit as a struggling family man in PARK Jung-woo’s viral outbreak thriller <Deranged> in 2012. The same year, he appeared as a North Korean agent stationed in the South who is finally given a mission after waiting for years in WOO Min-ho’s <The Spies> (2012). The film fared poorly on the charts, but in 2015, KIM was back on top with the sequel <Detective K: Secret of Lost Island>, which almost reached four million admissions in the Lunar New Year. He next worked again with PARK to play the South Korean president in the thriller <Pandora> (2016) and reprised his role of “Sherlock Homes of the Joseon Dynasty” in <Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead> (2014).Less