Shim Eun-kyung

For the South Korean actress born in 1973, see Shin Eun-kyung.

In this Korean name, the family name is Shim.

Shim Eun-kyung (Korean: 심은경; born May 31, 1994) is a South Korean actress. She starred in the box office hits Sunny (2011), Miss Granny (2014) and Fabricated City (2017),^[1] as well as television series Naeil's Cantabile (2014). She has starred in both Korean and Japanese language entertainment. In 2020, she became the first Korean to win Best Actress at the Japanese Academy Awards (Japan's equivalent of the Oscars).

Shim Eun-kyung
Shim in 2022
Born	(1994-05-31) May 31, 1994 (age 30) Gangneung, Gangwon, South Korea
Education	Professional Children's School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	2004–present
Agents	Fanfare Inc. (South Korea) Yumanite (Japan)
Korean name
Hangul	심은경
Revised Romanization	Sim Eungyeong
McCune–Reischauer	Sim Ŭn'gyŏng

Career

Shim made her acting debut at age 9 in the 2004 TV series The Woman Who Wants to Marry, and subsequently made a career as one of the best child actresses of her generation.^[2] She first gained attention for her role as a sexually abused girl in the horror fairytale Hansel and Gretel,^[3][4] and also starred in TV series such as Hwang Jini, The Legend, Women of the Sun, and The Great Merchant; critics say at times she even outshined her adult counterparts.^[5][6]

In 2011, she successfully transitioned to a lead actress via the retro dramedy Sunny, which tells the story of seven women, crosscutting between their lives in the present and the experiences that first brought them together as teenagers in the 1980s.^[4] Distinguished for its period detail, witty dialogue and the performances of its ensemble cast,^[7][8][9] the film shattered the common belief that women-centered pictures can't achieve blockbuster-level success. By appealing to a wide range of age groups,^[10] Sunny's box office total stood at more than 7 million admissions at the end of its long run.^[11][12] Director Kang Hyeong-cheol described Shim as someone "who is already complete as an actress."^[13]

Shim's other notable roles include a girl caught amidst the Korean War in black comedy Kyung-sook, Kyung-sook's Father (also known as My Dad Loves Trouble),^[14] a sister with seemingly supernatural abilities in Possessed,^[15] a depressive in The Quiz Show Scandal, and a court taster in Masquerade.^[16]

Shim at the 2014 PiFan Film Festival

In the 2014 comedy Miss Granny, Shim played a woman in her 70s who miraculously finds herself back in her 20-year-old body.^[13][17] She said, "This film is quite close to my heart as it is the first film for me to star in not as a child actor, but as full-fledged actress."^[18] With 8.65 million admissions, its box office success surpassed Sunny's, proving Shim's ability to carry a film.^[19][4][20] She also won Best Actress at the Chunsa Film Art Awards, the Baeksang Arts Awards, the Director's Cut Awards, and the Buil Film Awards.^{[21][22][23][24]}

Shim next starred as the eccentric savant pianist heroine in Naeil's Cantabile, a Korean drama adaptation of Japanese manga Nodame Cantabile.^[25][26] However, the series was a critical and commercial flop, and Shim was criticized for her acting in the series.^[27]

Shim returned to film, starring in Seoul Station directed by Yeon Sang-ho,^[28] who also directed Train to Busan (in which she also makes a cameo appearance), revenge thriller Missing You,^[29][30] and Queen of Walking, which Shim calls a turning point in her career.^[31] In 2017, she starred alongside Ji Chang-wook in the action thriller Fabricated City and alongside Choi Min-shik in the election film The Mayor.^[32][33] In 2018, she starred in The Princess and the Matchmaker, the second installment of the "divining art trilogy" after The Face Reader;^[34] and black comedy film Psychokinesis.^[35][36]

In 2019, Shim made her Japanese film debut in The Journalist and gained good reviews for her performance as a Japanese reporter who delves into a government corruption scandal targeting the Abe administration.^[37] She won the Best Actress award at the Mainichi Film Awards,^[38] and subsequently the Best Actress award at 43rd Japanese Academy Awards in the following year after. She also starred in the film Blue Hour, a story of an unusual friendship.^[39] She won the Best Actress award at the Takasaki Film Festival for her performance.^[40][41]

In 2020, Shim returned to Korean entertainment with the finance drama Money Game.^[42]

In 2022, Shim was invited sit on the jury bench of the 35th Tokyo International Film Festival.^[43]

In May 2023, Shim Eun-kyung signs an exclusive contract with Fanfare.^[44]

Personal life

Shim is the youngest daughter in her family. Her hobbies are listening to music, reading science fiction comics, and doing taekwondo. She is the drummer of a band she formed with friends, Chick and Candy.^[1]

After graduating from Eonbuk Elementary School and Cheongdam Middle School, in 2010 Shim temporarily quit acting to move to the U.S., explaining, "I chose a place where there aren’t a lot of Korean people and decided on a high school in Pittsburgh. Studying is a goal, but I also chose this because I've grown tired mentally and physically after having acted since a young age." She finished her high school at the Professional Children's School in 2013.^[45]

She shot a commercial with rocker Seo Taiji in 2008 and played the younger version of Lee Ji-ah's character Sujini in The Legend, but she didn't know that Lee and Seo were secretly married until 2011 when Shim was implicated in rumors that she was Seo and Lee's daughter, which she denied.^[46]

Originally nominated for the Best Actress award at the 2011 Grand Bell Awards for her role in Sunny, Shim complained publicly through her Twitter account when the awards committee removed her name from the official list of the nominees after she notified them she could not attend the event because she was currently studying in the U.S. She was one of four actors and actresses removed from the initial nomination. Shim ended up winning Best Supporting Actress for her role in Romantic Heaven; Chun Woo-hee, her castmate in Sunny, accepted the honor on Shim's behalf.^{[47][48][49][50]}

Filmography

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2004	Thomas An Jung-geun	An Jung-geun's daughter
2007	Hansel and Gretel	Kim Young-hee
2009	Possessed	So-jin
2010	Happy Killers	Kim Ha-rin
	The Quiz Show Scandal	Kim Yeo-na
	A Night on Earth		short film
2011	Earth Rep Rolling Stars	Soo-ji (voice)	animated film
	Sunny	young Im Na-mi
	Romantic Heaven	young Kim Boon-yi
2012	Masquerade	Sa-wol
2014	Miss Granny	Oh Doo-ri
2016	Sori: Voice From The Heart	Sori (voice)
	Missing You	Hee-joo
	Train to Busan	Runaway Girl	cameo appearance
	Seoul Station	Daughter (voice)	animated film
	Queen of Walking	Man-bok
2017	Fabricated City	Yeo-wool
	The Mayor	Park Kyeong
2018	Psychokinesis	Roo-mi
	The Princess and the Matchmaker	Princess Songhwa
2019	The Journalist	Erika Yoshioka	Japanese film
	Blue Hour	Asami Kiyoura
2020	Fictitious Girl's Diary	So-yeon
2021	A Garden of Camellias	Nagisa
2022	7 Secretaries: The Movie	Park Sa-ran		[51]
2024	The Killers		Short film	[52]
2025	Travels and Daily Life	Lee	Japanese film	[53]
TBA	Starlight Falls	Lee Hyeon-jeong (B)		[54]

Television series

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2003	Jewel in the Palace	Saenggaksi
2004	The Woman Who Wants to Marry	young Lee Shin-young
	Jang Gil-san	young Bong-soon
	Sweet Buns	young Han Ka-ran
	Emperor of the Sea	student under Lady Jung-hwa	Uncredited
2005	That Summer's Typhoon	Young Kang Soo-min
	Drama City: "Goblins Are Alive"	Ji-won	One act-drama
	I Love You, My Enemy	Kim Ga-ram
	The Secret Lovers
	Lovers in Prague	student in Hangul class	Uncredited
2006	641 Family	Jin Dal-rae
	Spring Waltz	Young Song Yi-na
	Drama City: "Kkot-nim-yi"	Kkot-nim-yi	One act-drama
	Hwang Jini	Young Hwang Jini
2007	The Legend	Young Sujini		[55]
2008	Women in the Sun	Young Shin Do-young
2009	Kyung-sook, Kyung-sook's Father	Jo Kyung-sook
	Hilarious Housewives	Shim Eun-kyung
2010	The Great Merchant	Young Kim Man-deok
	Bad Guy	Moon Won-in
2014	Naeil's Cantabile	Seol Nae-il
2020	7 Secretaries	Park Sa-ran	Japanese drama	[51]
	Money Game	Lee Hye-joon
2021	Anonymous: Keishicho "Yubisatsujin" Taisakushitsu"	Kuraki Sena	Japanese drama
	Gunjo Ryoiki	Kim Jun-hee	Japanese drama	[56]
2023	Why Didn't I Tell You a Million Times?	Song Ha-young	Japanese drama	[57]

Web series

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
2023	One Day Off	Lee Jin-sol	Cameo	[58]

Hosting

Year	Title	Notes	Ref.
2021	44th Japan Academy Film Prize	with Shinichi Hatori	[59]

Discography

Year	Song title	From the Album	Notes
2008		Seo Taiji: Record of the 8th - 398	Narration
2010	"Fly High"	Happy Killers OST	duet with Kim Dong-wook
2014	"If You Go to Los Angeles"	Miss Granny OST
	"White Butterfly"
	"Once More"
	"Raindrop"
	"If You Go to Los Angeles"		with Rose Motel

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result	Ref.
2006	KBS Drama Awards	Best Young Actress	Hwang Jini, Kkot-nim-yi	Won	[60]
2008			Women of the Sun	Won
2009			Kyung-sook, Kyung-sook's Father	Nominated
2010	31st Blue Dragon Film Awards	Best New Actress	The Quiz Show Scandal	Nominated
	47th Grand Bell Awards		Happy Killers	Nominated
2011	47th Baeksang Arts Awards	Best New Actress		Nominated
	48th Grand Bell Awards	Best Supporting Actress	Romantic Heaven	Won	[48]
2012	48th Baeksang Arts Awards	Best Actress	Sunny	Nominated
2014	18th Puchon International Fantastic Film Festival	Fantasia Award	—	Won	[61]
	KBS Drama Awards	Excellence Award, Actress in a Miniseries	Naeil's Cantabile	Nominated
	50th Baeksang Arts Awards	Best Actress	Miss Granny	Won	[22]
	14th Director's Cut Awards	Best Actress		Won	[24]
	19th Chunsa Film Art Awards			Won	[21]
	10th Jecheon International Music & Film Festival			Won	[62]
	23rd Buil Film Awards			Won	[23]
	51st Grand Bell Awards			Nominated
	35th Blue Dragon Film Awards			Nominated
	1st Korean Film Producers Association Awards			Won
2015	10th Max Movie Awards			Nominated
		Best Supporting Actress		Nominated
2016	53rd Grand Bell Awards	Best Actress	Missing You	Nominated
2019	Tama Cinema Forum Awards	Best New Actress	The Journalist	Won	[63]
2020	39th Zenkoku Eiren Awards	Best Actress		Won	[64]
	43rd Japan Academy Film Prize	Best Actress		Won	[65]
	74th Mainichi Film Awards	Best Actress		Won	[38]
		Best Supporting Actress	Blue Hour	Nominated
	34th Takasaki Film Festival	Best Actress		Won	[40]

Listicles

Name of publisher, year listed, name of listicle, and placement

Publisher	Year	Listicle	Rank	Ref.
The Screen	2019	2009–2019 Top Box Office Powerhouse Actors in Korean Movies	29th	[66]

Other

In September 2022, she was appointed to the committee at the 35th Tokyo International Film Festival.^[67]