Kim Jae-wook is in this week’s spotlight, but he hardly needs an introduction. His recent drama Her Private Life, where he starred opposite Park Min-young, is quickly becoming a cult favorite — and yep, both their performances were fantastic. As the drama has just wrapped up (nooo!), it seems like a good time to take a look at Kim Jae-wook’s acting career.
Born in 1983 in Seoul, South Korea, Kim Jae-wook’s career had an early start in 2002 with a small role in the MBC drama Ruler of Your Own World. He was young at the time, and apparently didn’t enjoy the acting experience. Instead, he focused on his modeling career for many years. When Kim Jae-wook finally returned to the small screen, it was with a supporting role in two now-classic dramas: Dal Ja’s Spring and Coffee Prince.
Although those dramas (especially the latter) should have been enough to guarantee his success, it hasn’t been till recently that he’s starting to get the recognition he deserves. After Her Private Life, he’s definitely at a great point in his career. Quick, make us more dramas!
Here are some dramaland moments from Kim Jae-wook, followed by his full filmography.
Who Are You (2013)
I’m not quite sure how I got through all of this drama. I don’t like creepy tales, and I especially don’t like poorly written creepy tales. However, I have a soft spot for Taecyeon, and tvN, so it seemed like a good idea at the time. Little did I know that this drama would be my introduction to Kim Jae-wook (*choir of angels*). It’s not exactly easy to steal an entire drama when you don’t even have a single line of dialogue — but Kim Jae-wook sure pulled it off. In Who Are You Kim Jae-wook played the wrongfully-murdered beloved of So Yi-hyun’s heroine. She was haunted/visited by him (depending on how you look at it, I guess) and it’s just a testament to his acting that his character was able to have the impact he did. White as a sheet, more silent than any Jang Ki-yong role, and not even doing much but standing there, Kim Jae-wook’s compelling screen presence held this drama together. Thank you.
Temperature of Love (2017)
In the face-off of Yang Se-jong and Kim Jae-wook, who can ever win the heart of the heroine? Truthfully, this drama was about much more than its love triangle — in fact, the love triangle was one of the weakest elements. It’s also one of the rare dramas where my perennial second lead syndrome was shelved (it’s a good drama practice to shelve that painful emotion from time to time). In Temperature of Love, Kim Jae-wook was cold, rich, and completely taken with Seo Hyun-jin’s screenwriting heroine. Though I didn’t love how the triangle/tension played out in moments, I never doubted the authenticity of his character’s emotions. Kim Jae-wook was also a nice foil for Yang Se-jong, who seemed extra young and chipper next to the suave businessman with the power to make or break the people around him.
Her Private Life (2019)
I loved the thought of Kim Jae-wook and Park Min-young starring together, but wasn’t really sure what to expect out of this drama… and boy have I been pleasantly surprised! I’m one of the first people to get drama fatigue over rom-coms with no personality — luckily, Her Private Life has not only personality, but pizzazz, super duper chemistry, and yeah, it’s also hilarious. Kim Jae-wook is great in this role, and it’s such a better character for him than the somewhat (conceptually) similar role he played in Temperature of Love. Here, he gets to have so much more fun, not only because he’s actually in the leading role, but because the script, thankfully, gives him more to do than just be a cold, smitten boss. Not that he doesn’t rock cold and smitten too.
Kim Jae-wook’s full filmography:
BONUS: I read somewhere that Kim Jae-wook loves to clean and sometimes cleans for 4-5 hours at a time. I just needed to share that information.