Kim Ji-seok (actor)

Kim Ji-seok
Kim Ji-seok at the I Need Romance 2012 press conference in April 2012
Born	Kim Bo-seok (1981-04-21) April 21, 1981 Seoul, South Korea
Other names	Kim Ji-suk
Education	Hankuk University of Foreign Studies - German Kyung Hee University Graduate School of Journalism and Communication - Cultural Contents Planning
Occupation	Actor
Years active	2001-present
Korean name
Hangul	김지석
Hanja	金知碩
Revised Romanization	Gim Ji-seok
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Ji-sŏk
Birth name
Hangul	김보석
Hanja	金寶石
Revised Romanization	Gim Bo-seok
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Bo-sŏk

Kim Ji-seok (born Kim Bo-seok on April 21, 1981) is a South Korean actor.

Career

Kim Bo-seok debuted in 2001 as a rapper in the five-member Eurodance boyband LEO (리오), formed to capitalize on the success of then-popular boyband g.o.d. But LEO never hit it big, and the group disbanded after eight months.^[1][2]

After failing the exam to get into the theater department, Kim majored in German at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies. Having attended middle school and high school in England, Kim is also fluent in English and he received his secondary teaching certificate in German and English in 2006.^[2] He also has a master's degree in Cultural Contents Planning from Kyung Hee University's Graduate School of Journalism and Communication.

Told by the head of his agency that his birth name could be confused with veteran actors Jung Bo-seok and Kim Bo-seong, he was given the stage name "Kim Ji-seok."^[2] Kim began his acting career by appearing in the 2004 music video of Kim Hyung-joong's "She's Laughing", followed by several minor roles. Though his daily drama Likeable or Not recorded high ratings of over 40% in 2007-2008,^[3][4] Kim still did not become a household name. Then a year later, Kim played a member of the Korean national ski jumping team in Take Off, which became the second-highest grossing Korean film in 2009.^[5][6][7] His popularity increased even more when he played an immature, womanizing slave hunter ("chuno") in period drama The Slave Hunters,^[2] the lover of a transgendered man in comedy Lady Daddy, and a competitive ex-boyfriend in Personal Taste.^[8][9]

He enlisted for his mandatory military service on May 24, 2010 at the Nonsan training center in South Chungcheong Province for five weeks of basic training.^[10] After serving active duty with the Defense Media Agency of the Ministry of National Defense in Yongsan-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, he was discharged in March 2012.^[11][12] Kim's first post-army acting project was horror film Two Moons (also known as The Sleepless), released in July.^[13][14] This was followed by television romantic comedies I Need Romance 2012 in June,^[15] and Cheongdam-dong Alice in December.^[16]

Kim then starred in Wonderful Mama (2013), Angel Eyes (2014) and Unkind Ladies (2015). He also appeared as one of the cast members of talk show Hot Brain: Problematic Men.^[17]

Filmography

Film

Television series

Music video

Variety show

Discography

Awards and nominations

References

External links

• Kim Ji-seok on Cyworld
• Kim Ji-seok at HanCinema
• Kim Ji-seok at the Internet Movie Database