# Kim Myung-min (김명민)
**Kim Myung-min** (김명민; born 1972) is a South Korean actor known for playing figures of professional mastery and conviction, including Admiral Yi Sun-sin in *Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin* (2004–2005), surgeon Jang Jun-hyuk in *Behind the White Tower* (2007), and conductor Kang Mae in *Beethoven Virus* (2008)[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300). He has won both of Korea's leading film acting prizes, Best Actor at the Grand Bell Awards and the Blue Dragon Film Awards, for the same performance[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060).
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Born | 1972; South Korean[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) |
| Training and debut | Graduate of the Seoul Institute of the Arts theater department; debuted through the 6th SBS public talent audition class in 1996[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) |
| Breakthrough | Cast as Yi Sun-sin in the KBS historical epic *Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin* (2004–2005) after nearly quitting acting; won the 2005 KBS Drama Awards[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) • [3](https://www.osen.co.kr/article/G1110673417) |
| Signature TV roles | Jang Jun-hyuk in *Behind the White Tower* (2007), Kang Mae in *Beethoven Virus* (2008), Jeong Do-jeon in *Six Flying Dragons* (2015), Yang Jong-hoon in *Law School* (2021)[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) |
| Top film prizes | 46th Grand Bell Awards and 30th Blue Dragon Film Awards, both Best Actor for *Closer to Heaven* (2009)[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060) |
| Physical transformation | Lost nearly 20 kg, reaching 52 kg, to play a man with Lou Gehrig's disease in *Closer to Heaven*[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060) • [4](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=57404) |
| Box-office films | *Detective K: Secret of a Virtuous Widow* (2011) drew 4.8 million admissions; *Deranged* (2012) passed 4.5 million[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060) • [5](https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1001435477) |
## Early career
Kim trained in the theater department of the [Seoul Institute of the Arts](https://www.edgepedia.org/seoul-institute-of-the-arts) and entered the industry through the 6th SBS public talent audition class in 1996[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300). He appeared in small and supporting parts across several SBS dramas, including *Look Back in Anger* (성난 얼굴로 돌아보라) and *KAIST*, and took his first lead role in the 2000 MBC series *I Like It Hot* (뜨거운 것이 좋아), which did not make him a prominent name[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) • [6](https://d.namu.moe/w/%EA%B9%80%EB%AA%85%EB%AF%BC/%EC%97%B0%EA%B8%B0%20%EA%B2%BD%EB%A0%A5).
His screen debut came in the 2001 horror film *Sorum* (소름), in which he played Yong-hyeon; the performance won him several Best New Actor awards, including the Director's Cut Awards and the Busan Film Critics Association Awards[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) • [2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060). The momentum did not hold. *Sorum* did not succeed commercially regardless of its quality, and while filming *Stunt Man* (2004) he was injured in a motorcycle accident that forced a long layoff; by his own later account he decided to give up acting[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060) • [6](https://d.namu.moe/w/%EA%B9%80%EB%AA%85%EB%AF%BC/%EC%97%B0%EA%B8%B0%20%EA%B2%BD%EB%A0%A5).
## Breakthrough: *Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin*
**The comeback came through emigration.** On a television talk show Kim recalled that he and his wife were preparing to leave for New Zealand when the director of the KBS historical epic *Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin* (불멸의 이순신, 2004–2005) called him to offer the title role[3](https://www.osen.co.kr/article/G1110673417). His casting as Korea's national naval hero drew controversy at first, he said, but from around the 40th episode audiences came to accept him in the part[3](https://www.osen.co.kr/article/G1110673417). The series brought him wide recognition, and he won the 2005 KBS Drama Awards for it, marking what he later called the start of a second acting life[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060) • [6](https://d.namu.moe/w/%EA%B9%80%EB%AA%85%EB%AF%BC/%EC%97%B0%EA%B8%B0%20%EA%B2%BD%EB%A0%A5). The production was demanding: in a 2009 interview he described a shooting schedule in which two scripts arrived at the weekend and filming ran from 7 a.m. Monday into the night, with location and boat scenes in Buan, North Jeolla Province, from Tuesday[4](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=57404).
## The professional-role run
Between 2007 and 2009 Kim established himself with three consecutive portrayals of driven professionals. In the MBC medical series *Behind the White Tower* (하얀 거탑, 2007) he played the ambitious surgeon Jang Jun-hyuk, a performance that swept that year's MBC Drama Awards and won him Best TV Actor at the 43rd Baeksang Arts Awards and the Grimae Awards[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) • [7](https://blog.stkippgribl.ac.id/Katapedia/wiki/Kim_Myung-min). He then played the tyrannical, comic-flavored orchestra conductor Kang Mae (강마에) in *Beethoven Virus* (베토벤 바이러스, 2008), winning the MBC Drama Awards Grand Prize, the Korea Drama Awards Grand Prize, and Best TV Actor at the 45th Baeksang Arts Awards[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) • [7](https://blog.stkippgribl.ac.id/Katapedia/wiki/Kim_Myung-min). A real symphony conductor, who served as artistic director of the series, later recalled auditioning and coaching Kim and co-star [Jang Keun-suk](https://www.edgepedia.org/jang-keun-suk) for the conducting scenes[8](https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=0923766458).
In Park Jin-pyo's 2009 film *Closer to Heaven* (내 사랑 내 곁에) Kim played Baek Jong-woo, a man dying of [Lou Gehrig](https://www.edgepedia.org/lou-gehrig)'s disease. He lost nearly 20 kg for the role by the KOFIC account, and film critic Kim Hye-ri's profile records his weight dropping to 52 kg during the shoot; Cine21's biography puts the total loss at close to 30 kg[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060) • [4](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=57404) • [1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300). The performance won him Best Actor at the 46th Grand Bell Awards, where he also took the Popularity Award, and Best Actor at the 30th Blue Dragon Film Awards[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060). Critic Kim Hye-ri described him as an obsessive perfectionist who adds something of his own to what each role demands, with a deep, textured voice as his characteristic instrument[4](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=57404).
## Film work and the Detective K series
Kim's first commercially successful film came with the period comedy adventure *Detective K: Secret of a Virtuous Widow* (조선명탐정: 각시투구꽃의 비밀, 2011), which drew 4.8 million admissions in Korea[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060). He scored another major hit as a struggling family man in Park Jung-woo's viral-outbreak thriller *Deranged* (연가시, 2012), which passed 4.5 million admissions in the first half of the year[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060) • [5](https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1001435477). Also in 2012 he appeared in Woo Min-ho's *The Spies* (간첩) as a North Korean agent stationed in the South who is finally given a mission after years of waiting, and in *The King of Dramas* as producer [Anthony Kim](https://www.edgepedia.org/anthony-kim)[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060) • [1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300). His film results were uneven by his own admission: *Pacemaker* (2011) drew fewer than 500,000 admissions while *Deranged* became a surprise hit the same year[5](https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1001435477).
**The Joseon detective series became his box-office franchise.** He reprised the role of "the Sherlock Holmes of the Joseon Dynasty" in *Detective K: Secret of the Lost Island* (조선명탐정: 사라진 놉의 딸, 2015), which opened first at the [Lunar New Year](https://www.edgepedia.org/lunar-new-year) box office and almost reached four million admissions; its opening weekend took 729,609 admissions across 811 screens[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060) • [9](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20150216029600005). He continued the character in *Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead* (2018)[2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060). Also in 2015 he played the statesman Jeong Do-jeon in the SBS historical series *Six Flying Dragons* (육룡이 나르샤), and the president in the nuclear-disaster thriller *Pandora* (판도라, 2016)[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) • [2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060).
His later film roles include Captain Lee Myung-jun in the [Korean War](https://www.edgepedia.org/korean-war) drama *The Battle of Jangsari* (장사리: 잊혀진 영웅들, 2018), which opened atop the Korean box office in late September 2019[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) • [2](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060), and the master in the 2025 film *The Fiery Tropics* (슬픈 열대)[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300).
## Later television
In 2018 Kim led the KBS drama *The Miracle We Met* (우리가 만난 기적), winning the Grand Prize (Daesang) at the 32nd KBS Drama Awards, along with the Best Couple award with Ra Mi-ran and the Netizen Award[7](https://blog.stkippgribl.ac.id/Katapedia/wiki/Kim_Myung-min). In JTBC's *Law School* (로스쿨, 2021) he played Yang Jong-hoon, a former criminal-law prosecutor turned professor[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300), and in 2024 he played crime boss Kim Kang-heon in *Your Honor*[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) • [11](https://tv.apple.com/us/show/your-honor/umc.cmc.3l2ykhpczzd4r9n0i7m720198). In a 2021 interview he said the Law School role of a professor with an elite legal background felt demanding at first, and credited co-star Lee Jung-eun with helping him reveal the character's loneliness[6](https://d.namu.moe/w/%EA%B9%80%EB%AA%85%EB%AF%BC/%EC%97%B0%EA%B8%B0%20%EA%B2%BD%EB%A0%A5).
## Method and public standing
Kim's transformation for *Closer to Heaven* became the best-known example of a pattern noted repeatedly in Korean press coverage: weight loss and physical immersion in difficult roles, alongside the professional figures, [Yi Sun-sin](https://www.edgepedia.org/yi-sun-sin), Jang Jun-hyuk, and Kang Mae, that made his reputation[1](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300) • [10](https://m.skyedaily.com/pdf_view.html?pdf_url=%2Fdata%2Fskyn_pdf%2F2022%2F20221114%2Fweb%2F20221114-14). Forbes placed him 16th on its 2010 Korea Power Celebrity list[7](https://blog.stkippgribl.ac.id/Katapedia/wiki/Kim_Myung-min). In interviews he has repeatedly said he would like to retire while the applause is still coming, describing the remark to a newspaper as a self-directed reminder that he does not intend to act until he dies[8](https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=0923766458).
## References
1. [김명민 (Kim Myungmin) profile, Cine21](https://cine21.com/db/person/info/?person_id=14300)
2. [KIM Myung-min, Korean Film Database (KOFIC)](https://www.koreanfilm.or.kr/eng/films/index/peopleView.jsp?peopleCd=10004060)
3. ['연중' 김명민 "이민 가려다 '이순신' 캐스팅, 40회 이후 인정받아", OSEN (2017)](https://www.osen.co.kr/article/G1110673417)
4. [김혜리가 만난 사람: 고지식한 연기중독자, 김명민, Cine21 (2009)](https://cine21.com/news/view/?mag_id=57404)
5. [김명민 '나는 과다 소비 되지 않았다', SBS News (2012)](https://news.sbs.co.kr/news/endPage.do?news_id=N1001435477)
6. [김명민/연기 경력, Namuwiki](https://d.namu.moe/w/%EA%B9%80%EB%AA%85%EB%AF%BC/%EC%97%B0%EA%B8%B0%20%EA%B2%BD%EB%A0%A5)
7. [Kim Myung-min: Pemeran asal Korea Selatan – Katapedia](https://blog.stkippgribl.ac.id/Katapedia/wiki/Kim_Myung-min)
8. [김명민 "난 아직 순수함을 갖고 연기하는 사람" [인터뷰], 국민일보 (2017)](https://www.kmib.co.kr/article/view.asp?arcid=0923766458)
9. [박스오피스: 김명민·오달수의 코믹 호흡 '조선명탐정' 1위, 연합뉴스 (2015)](https://www.yna.co.kr/view/AKR20150216029600005)
10. [Kim Myung-min career profile, Sky Daily (2022)](https://m.skyedaily.com/pdf_view.html?pdf_url=%2Fdata%2Fskyn_pdf%2F2022%2F20221114%2Fweb%2F20221114-14)
11. [YOUR HONOR - Apple TV](https://tv.apple.com/us/show/your-honor/umc.cmc.3l2ykhpczzd4r9n0i7m720198)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Screen people and creators › Screen actors of East and Southeast Asia › South Korean actors, 2000s onward › Surnames Ki to K*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 17, 2026; Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 18, 2026; Sep 30, 2026; Oct 12, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license