Meet Kim Hye-jun, the serial killer in Netflix’s Inspector Koo: she rose to fame in hit K-drama Kingdom and calls her Chip In co-star Oh Na-ra ‘unnie’

Oct 30 , 2021

Kim Hye-jun will star as a serial killer in Netflix’s Inspector Koo. Photo: @hyello._.o/Instagram

After hits Squid Game and My Name, streaming giant Netflix brings us Inspector Koo, described as the Asian version of BBC’s Killing Eve

Kim will star as Kei opposite Lee Young-ae – and she’s played plenty of darker roles before, from a struggling teen in Another Child to a disaster victim in Sinkhole

After hits Squid Game and My Name, Netflix is all set to bring us another intriguing K-drama: Lee Young-ae’s thriller-comedy Inspector Koo, releasing on October 30 just in time for Halloween. Described as the Asian version of BBC’s Killing Eve, Lee plays a reclusive ex-police officer who hunts down a serial killer played by the young and talented actress Kim Hye-jun, who rose to fame after her role as the queen consort in Netflix’s Kingdom (2019).

So what do we know about the charismatic starlet?

Kim Hye-Jun, who starred in Netflix’s Kingdom, is set to star in Inspector Koo next. Photo: @hyello._.o/Instagram

She was in Saturday Night Live Korea

Kim Hye-Jun was a regular cast member of SNL Korea. Photo: @hyello._.o/Instagram

The 26-year-old star studied film and theatre at Hanyang University and started out doing commercials as side gigs. In 2016, Kim auditioned for Saturday Night Live Korea and joined the seventh season as a regular cast member. She appeared in multiple skits before leaving the show at the end of the season.

She is a versatile star

Kim Hye-Jun rose to popularity after her role in Kingdom. Photo: Netflix

One might assume that a young actress like Kim would probably make her start in typical romance or comedy shows, but she actually made her debut in a lesbian romance web series called Lily Fever in 2015. She then appeared in supporting roles in shows such as Rain or Shine (2017) and Matrimonial Chaos (2018). In 2019, Kim quickly became a household name after playing the queen consort Cho in Netflix’s Kingdom (2019).

Kim Hye-Jun in Sinkhole. Photo: The Tower Pictures

But she didn’t stop there. Kim also branched out to play a 15-year-old struggling with her dad’s dysfunctional affair in Another Child (2019), which earned her the best new actress award at the 40th Blue Dragon Film Awards. In 2021, she starred in the disaster drama Sinkhole (2021) where she plays a young woman who’s trapped in a building that’s being engulfed by a sinkhole.