Kim Ji-seok

Kim Ji-seok (Korean: 김지석) is a Korean actor born on April 21, 1981. He first appeared under the name Kim Bo-seok and later adopted Kim Ji-seok as his professional name. His career has moved between comedy, melodrama, and period drama. One of his early widely seen roles was in MBC's long-running sitcom Nonstop 5, where he played a college student amid the show's ensemble of young performers. The series provided a recurring comic setting built around campus friendships and romances. He joined the ensemble of Take Off (2009), Kim Yong-hwa's sports comedy-drama about South Korea's unlikely ski-jumping team seeking an Olympic bid. The film follows athletes recruited from markedly different backgrounds for a sport few of them initially understand well. In KBS drama The Slave Hunters (2010), Kim portrayed Wang-son, a runaway slave traveling with the central fugitive group. The series is set in the Joseon period and centers largely on bounty hunter Lee Dae-gil's pursuit of escaped nobleman Tae-ha. He was cast as Han Chang-ryul in Personal Taste (2010), an MBC romantic comedy starring Son Ye-jin and Lee Min-ho. Chang-ryul is the former boyfriend of Park Gae-in, the furniture designer whose shared home becomes central to the series' misunderstandings. Kim returned to romance in tvN's I Need Romance 2012, playing music director Shin Ji-hoon. The drama follows three women navigating work, friendship, and relationships, and Ji-hoon's developing relationship with Joo Yeol-mae forms one of its principal romantic story lines. His role as King Yeonsangun in MBC's 2017 historical drama Rebel: Thief Who Stole the People placed him in a story inspired by Hong Gildong. The series depicts conflict between the tyrannical ruler and a commoner who becomes a leader. In Top Star Yoo-baek (2018-2019), he headlined as Yoo-baek, a disgraced celebrity sent from Seoul to a remote island. The tvN romantic comedy pairs his urban star with islanders, including Oh Kang-soon, played by Jeon So-min, and explores his adjustment. Kim played Kang Jong-ryeol in the 2019 KBS2 hit When the Camellia Blooms. Jong-ryeol is a famous baseball player and the former partner of Dong-baek, portrayed by Gong Hyo-jin. His return complicates Dong-baek's life in the fictional town of Ongsan. He then starred as Park Chan-hyeok in My Unfamiliar Family (2020), a tvN drama about misunderstandings within one family. Chan-hyeok is a psychiatrist and friend of lead character Kim Eun-hee, portrayed by Han Ye-ri. Their changing relationship drives the drama.