The year she turned 20, she debuted in the play The Next. She had majored in early childhood education and worked as a kindergarten teacher while performing. In 1990, she won best new actress in theater at the Baeksang Arts Awards for the play Chilsan-ri. She was performing in another show on the day of the ceremony, so her older sister accepted the award for her. In 1991, she appeared in Chunhyangjeon, the opening performance of the Year of Theater and Film.
In 1994, she won an acting award at the Dong-A Theater Awards for the play Gwicheon. In 1996, at her older sister’s urging, she auditioned and joined the Minjung Theater Company. In 1997, she became a founding member of the Seoul Metropolitan Theater Company, under the Sejong Center for the Performing Arts.
In 2001, she appeared in the 10th anniversary production of the musical Nunsense as Sister Amnesia. The next year she left the Seoul Metropolitan Theater Company. In 2009, she played the turtle Harriet in Darwin’s Turtle and won both the best actress award at the Korea Theater Awards and the Kim Dong-hoon Theater Award.
In 2011, she played an elderly woman with dementia who had been forced into sexual slavery by the Japanese military in the premiere of the play Red Poem. In 2016, she appeared in the musical The Renewed Nunsense 2 and the play The Gift. In 2018, she won an acting award at the Seoul Theater Festival for The House with a Veranda.
In 2019, she appeared in tvN’s Be Melodramatic as the mother of Im Jin-ju, played by Chun Woo-hee. In 2021, she appeared in the musical Bernarda Alba. In 2022, she appeared in the plays The Man from Oslo and Noryangjin–Traces and the short film Two Women’s Room. In 2023, she appeared in the film Open the Door.
The breakthrough yearIn 2024, the year she turned 61, she appeared in JTBC’s Frankly Speaking in June and A Virtuous Business in October. On Dec. 26, she became known worldwide as Player 149, Geum-ja, in season 2 of Netflix’s Squid Game.
In 2025, she appeared in season 3 of Squid Game and played Lady Croom in the Korean premiere of the play Arcadia. She won best supporting actress at the Gold Derby TV Awards in the United States. In 2026, her short film Murye-han Saebyeok was invited to the competition at the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival in France.
Kang Ae-shim (born Feb 28, 1963) debuted in the play The Next in 1983, the year she turned 20, and won best new actress in theater at the Baeksang Arts Awards on Apr 6, 1990, the year she turned 27, for Chilsan-ri. On Dec 26, 2024, the year she turned 61, she became known worldwide as Player 149, Geum-ja, in season 2 of Netflix’s Squid Game.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.