The year she turned 16, in her second year of high school, she debuted in the film The First Day of the Twentieth Year. In 1985, she entered Chung-Ang University’s theater and film department and appeared in MBC’s Best Seller Theater.
The breakthrough yearThe year she turned 19, she beat odds of 200 to 1 to take the lead in KBS’s A Woman’s Heart. She says she became widely known through this drama.
In 1987, she won Best New Actress (TV) at the Baeksang Arts Awards for A Woman’s Heart. In 1989, she became host of Toyoil Toyoireun Jeulgeowo. In 1990, she moved to MBC during the KBS dispute. In 1992, she played Hu-nam in Sons and Daughters, which reached a peak rating of 61.1%.
In 1993, she won the Baeksang Arts Awards TV Daesang for Sons and Daughters, and the film The 101st Proposition, her first in nine years, was released. In 1994, she first hosted New Life for Children and appeared in Kareisky. In 1996, she married the Hancom CEO Lee Chan-jin. In 1998, her first son was born.
In 2003, she returned to drama in Wife after seven years, and appeared in Perfect Love the same year. In 2004, she won her second Baeksang Daesang. In 2007, she won the SBS Drama Awards Daesang for My Husband’s Woman.
In 2012, she appeared in JTBC’s How Long I’ve Kissed. In 2014, the film Thread of Lies, her first in 20 years, was released and Secret Affair aired. In 2016, she signed with an agency for the first time. In 2018, she won Best Actress at the Buil Film Awards for Herstory.
In 2020, The World of the Married set the highest rating for a drama on a Korean general-programming cable channel, and she won the Baeksang Best Actress (TV) award. In 2023, Queenmaker and The Moon were released. In 2025, she signed with KeyEast and became host of the 80s Seoul Song Festival on Hangout with Yoo. In 2026, she appeared in Bonjour Bakery.
Kim Hee-ae (born Apr 23, 1967) debuted in the film The First Day of the Twentieth Year in 1983, the year she turned 16, and became known when she took the lead in KBS’s A Woman’s Heart in 1986, the year she turned 19. She won her first Baeksang Arts Awards Daesang for Sons and Daughters in 1993, the year she turned 26.
Ages are by calendar year (the year minus the birth year), birthdays aside.