Kim Hee-sun

Kim Hee-sun (born June 11, 1977) is a South Korean actress. She rose to fame in the 1990s with leading roles in television series such as Men of the Bath House (1995), Propose (1997), Wedding Dress (1997), Forever Yours (1998), Mister Q (1998), Sunflower (1998), and Tomato (1999). Kim also starred in the martial arts films Bichunmoo (2000) and The Myth (2005).

Career

Kim Hee-sun won the Fair Face Beauty Contest in 1992 when she was a middle school student, and began modeling in teen magazines. In 1993, Kim (then a high school sophomore) appeared in a commercial for Lotte Samkang's crab chips, which led to her acting debut in Dinosaur Teacher and an MC gig for music show Live TV Music 20 that same year.

She enjoyed peak popularity in the mid-to-late 1990s, starring in one hit Korean drama after another. These include Men of the Bath House (1995) written by Kim Soo-hyun, Propose (1997) and Forever Yours (1998) with Ryu Si-won, Wedding Dress (1997) with Lee Seung-yeon, Mister Q (1998) with Kim Min-jong and Song Yun-ah, Sunflower (1998) with Ahn Jae-wook, and Tomato (1999) with Kim Suk-hoon. Kim won the top prize at the 1998 SBS Drama Awards for Mister Q, making her (at the time) the youngest ever Grand Prize (Daesang) winner at 21 years old. During this period, she also appeared in numerous advertisements and rose to fame both at home and abroad as one of Korea's most beautiful and trend-setting actresses.