Jin Ki-joo

Jin Ki-joo is a South Korean actress born on January 26, 1989. Before entering acting, she followed an unusually varied professional path. She studied computer science at Chung-Ang University, worked as an IT consultant at Samsung SDS, and later became a reporter for G1, a Gangwon Province broadcaster. Her transition to entertainment began after she placed second in the 2014 Olleh Supermodel Contest, an experience that led to acting opportunities.

She made her television acting debut in the 2015 tvN drama Twenty Again, appearing in a story about a 38-year-old woman who enters university after years devoted to marriage and motherhood. Jin subsequently took supporting roles in series including The Good Wife, the Korean adaptation of the American legal drama, and the 2017 historical drama Queen for Seven Days.

Her profile rose substantially through Misty in 2018. In the JTBC thriller, she played Han Ji-won, a golf instructor whose death becomes central to the investigation surrounding successful news anchor Go Hye-ran, portrayed by Kim Nam-joo. That year, Jin also appeared in the film Little Forest, directed by Yim Soon-rye. The film follows a young woman returning from Seoul to her rural hometown, where she reconnects with childhood friends and prepares seasonal food.

Jin received her first leading television role in MBC’s 2018 melodrama Come and Hug Me. She played Han Jae-yi, an actress whose family was murdered by the serial-killer father of her childhood friend, Chae Do-jin. The drama follows the pair as adults, when they attempt to preserve their relationship despite the trauma linking their families. Her performance earned her recognition at the MBC Drama Awards, including the Excellence Award for an Actress in a Monday–Tuesday Drama.

In 2019, she led SBS’s romantic comedy The Secret Life of My Secretary as Jung Gal-hee, the highly capable secretary of a cold executive, Do Min-ik. She then starred in KBS2’s long-form family drama Homemade Love Story, playing Lee Bit-chae-woon, an architectural assistant who searches for the truth about her birth. The series ran for 50 episodes and became one of her major television projects.

Her later work includes the 2021 thriller film Midnight, in which she played Kyung-mi, a deaf woman pursued by a serial killer after witnessing a crime. In 2022, she starred opposite Park Hae-jin in From Now On, Showtime!, portraying police officer Go Seul-hae in a fantasy mystery involving a magician who can command ghosts. In 2023’s My Perfect Stranger, she played Baek Yoon-young, a publishing editor transported to 1987, where she confronts events connected to her mother’s past.