Kim Ji Won | 김지원 | About

Kim Ji Won was born in Geumcheon District, Seoul, the younger of two daughters, and took to acting through school plays. She spent close to a year in Chicago during her first year of middle school, living with relatives on her mother's side, and had to repeat a year on returning. She left formal schooling, passed the equivalency examination, and went on to read theatre studies at Dongguk University.

In 2008, while still a trainee, she played keyboard and sang backing for Younha and appeared in the video for "Gossip Boy". She had been lined up to debut as a singer under the name JessicaK, but chose acting instead, taking early parts in What's Up (2011), To the Beautiful You (2012) and the horror anthology Horror Stories.

Two Kim Eun Sook dramas made her name: The Heirs (2013), where she played the heiress Yoo Rachel and took a New Star Award at the SBS Drama Awards, and Descendants of the Sun (2016), which brought her Best New Actress and a Best Couple award with Jin Goo at the KBS Drama Awards. Fight for My Way (2017) followed, winning her an Excellence Award, and then leading roles in Arthdal Chronicles (2019), Lovestruck in the City (2020), My Liberation Notes (2022) and Queen of Tears (2024), which became tvN's highest-rated series to that point.

Her films include Romantic Heaven (2011), Horror Stories and its sequel, and Detective K: Secret of the Bloodsucking Demon (2018). She has sung for her own productions, among them "Stupid Cupid" for What's Up and "Over the Rainbow" for High Kick 3.