She was popularly known as a “CF princess” and an in-demand model for advertisements before debuting as an actress. In 2010, she made her television debut in a commercial for LG Cyon’s Lollipop 2 with K-pop group Big Bang and thus became known as the ‘Lollipop Girl’. Kim later appeared in a carbonated vitamin drink commercial in which she played various characters and performed a song and dance number. This gave her the title, ‘Oran C Girl’.

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She was also called ‘little Kim Tae-hee’ due to her resemblance to the Lies Hidden in My Garden actress.

Despite it not being her native language, there are scenes in The Heirs (2013) and Queen of Tears (2024) when Kim speaks English fluently and without a strong Korean accent. This is because Kim lived and attended school in Chicago, where her maternal relatives lived when she was in middle school. Additionally, she enjoys watching and reading books in English.

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Kim has also been taking English classes to improve her proficiency in the language further.

Kim has aquaphobia, which is a severe fear when they see or think about water; hence, they may be afraid of large bodies of water or swimming pools. She also revealed that she cried during a Descendants of the Sun retreat when she was playfully pushed into the water. However, while filming Lovestruck in the City (2020), a scene required her to surf. Kim bravely fought her worst fear and successfully wrapped up filming, crediting the K-drama for helping her overcome aquaphobia.

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“It was a big challenge. I’m very afraid of water, so I rarely go to the sea. But my character was supposed to surf. ‘I want to remove words like scared, can’t, and afraid and start a new life.’ For some reason, those words really touched my heart. So in the spur of the moment, I said I wanted to be in that drama. I wanted to overcome my fear. I regretted the moment I kept falling into the water though. I would fall into the water, and then get back on the surfboard. I repeated that for about a week. It wasn’t easy at all. Nonetheless, I’m no longer afraid of water. Thanks to the drama, I overcame my fear,” she revealed in an interview.

Despite having 11 million followers on her Instagram account, Kim is not on social media much. In 2018, while shooting Detective K: Secret of the Living Dead, Kim revealed that she prefers to steer clear of social media platforms. “I’m the type that separates my personal life from my work. When I appear in a drama, I’d like people to focus on that character only,” she said, adding that in real life, she prefers to be called one of her characters’ names instead of her real name.

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She also said that she’s very much of an introvert, preferring to stay home and lie on her bed, and listening to the rain.

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