Im Ye-jin


Im Ki-hee, known professionally as Im Ye-jin, is a South Korean actress. Affectionately called the original "Nation's Little Sister", Im debuted as a teenage actress taking on roles of the "pretty teenage student" in several movies and TV series – helping her win the title of everyone's favorite "dongseng" in her time. She reached the peak of her popularity in the 1970s with the "Really Really" film trilogy, which includes Never Forget Me, I Am Really Sorry and I Really Really Like You. She is currently active in television.

Career

Im Ki-hee began modeling in popular teen magazines when she was in junior high school. Using the stage name Im Ye-jin, she made her acting debut in Kim Ki-young's Transgression in 1974.
In 1975, Im played a high schooler in love with her teacher in Graduating School Girls, for which she won Best New Actress at the Grand Bell Awards. But it was a year later when she would be catapulted to stardom. Im headlined Never Forget Me and its sequels I Am Really Sorry and Crazy For You -- movies about teenage friendship, romance, and aspirations that became massive box office hits, screening to sold-out theaters. In an era when Korean cinema was in a dark period resulting from severe censorship by an authoritarian government, this led to the emergence of the teenage demographic as a major consumer of pop culture. Im had an innocent, girlish image, whose acting was charming and sweet without being saccharine, and she became hugely popular among middle school and high school students; girls wanted to be like her, and boys had her picture in their pockets. The "Really Really" series established Im as the most popular young actress of that period, and for the next several years, youth melodramas starring her dominated the theaters in quick succession, often with Lee Deok-hwa as her leading man: Prayer of a Girl, Ever So Much Good!, I Really Have a Dream, I've Never Felt Like This Before, and Nobody Knows.
Im entered college in 1979, studying Theater and Film at Dongguk University. By this time, she wanted to transition out of teen movies, and into more adult roles. She starred opposite Shin Seong-il in Love Song in a Peanut Shell, but it was poorly received, with audiences not prepared to see her break out of her "pure" image. Despite a supporting role in A Fine, Windy Day, Im's film career was in a slump, so she shifted her focus to television and radio in the 1980s.
After a few years of forgettable television dramas, Im's career was revitalized by Kim Soo-hyun, one of the most famous TV writers in Korea. Among Kim's dramas that Im starred in were 사랑합시다, Yesterday and Tomorrow, Love and Truth, Love and Ambition, Farewell, and Childless Comfort. In Farewell, she shocked audiences by playing a Fatal Attraction-esque villain for the first time. Im also played the character Dal-soo in a series of one-act dramas for MBC Best Theater from 1995 to 2005.
As Im grew older, she remained active on television and the occasional film, in supporting roles as ajummas, aunts or mothers. As if coming full circle, she played one of the adult characters in a 2010 musical theatre adaptation of her early hit I Really Really Like You.
From 2008 to 2010, Im was a popular panelist on the variety show Quiz to Change the World, for which she was recognized at the MBC Entertainment Awards.
In 2014, Im signed with the talent agency YG Entertainment. In December 2019, it was confirmed that her contract with YG Entertainment has expired and decided not to renew.

Personal life

In 1989, Im married Choi Chang-wook, a TV director and producer at MBC.

Filmography

Film

Transgression Red Shoes Graduating School Girls Really Really Don't Forget Prayer of a Girl Ever So Much Good! I Really Have a Dream Blue Classroom I'm Really Really Sorry I've Never Felt Like This Before Angry Apple When We Grow Up... The First Snow Goodbye, Sir! The Double Rainbow Hill I Really Really Like You Our World Nobody Knows Fire Cheerful High School Class The Hey Days of Youth 77 Love Song in a Peanut Shell A Fine, Windy Day Love's Scribble Crack of the Halo The Classic Windstruck Ssunday Seoul Dasepo Naughty Girls Miss Gold Digger My Mighty Princess Secret Love

Television series

Jade Flute By Ear Third Class The Spring Maiden Has Come South Wind X Search Party Frugal Family White Dandelion Anguk-dong Madam Han River Let's Love Yesterday and Tomorrow Friend, My Friend Sunflower in Winter Love and Truth First Love Love and Ambition Peers and Turi Legacy Sunrise Last Place Search Party Freezing Point Ancient Geum Jan-di A Rainy Afternoon Mozart the Janitor Professor Oh's Family Mountain Wind Farewell Partner Love and Marriage MBC Best Theater – "Dal-su's Trial" MBC Best Theater – "Dal-su's House Building" Three Kingdoms MBC Best Theater – "Dalsu's Son Goes to School" MBC Best Theater – "Dal-su's Tea" MBC Best Theater – "Golden Garden" OK Ranch MBC Best Theater – "Dal-su Breaks the Filial Piety Law" MBC Best Theater – "Dal-su's Alone Arirang" To Love Is See and See Again Crush MBC Best Theater – "Dal-su, Hit by a Boomerang" LA Arirang Blue Mist Wonderful Days Affection Honest Living MBC Best Theater – "Run, Manager Jang" MBC Best Theater – "Do You Love Me?" People of the Water Flower Village Full House Ireland MBC Best Theater – "Dal-su, Tutoring His Son" Love and Sympathy MBC Best Theater – "Dal-su, Caught in the Special Prostitution Law" Princess Hours Which Star Are You From MBC Best Theater – "A Walk Around The Neighborhood" Winter Bird Little Mom Scandal Lawyers of the Great Republic of Korea Little Mom Scandal 2 Boys over Flowers The Road Home Queen Seondeok Life Is Good Life Is Beautiful You Don't Know Women Smile, Mom My Princess Sweet Palpitations Romance Town Iron Daughters-in-Law Immortal Classic My Kids Give Me a Headache 7th Grade Civil Servant Princess Aurora Miss Korea Can We Fall in Love, Again? Marriage, Not Dating Rosy Lovers The Producers Splash Splash Love Yeah, That's How It Is The Liar and His Lover Hit the Top A Korean Odyssey - Bangmooljangsoo My Only One Lie After Lie Young Lady and Gentleman Beauty and Mr. Romantic - So Geum-ja, Pil-sung's grandma

Variety show

MBC Campus Song Festival - MC

Music video

Theater

  • ''I Really Really Like You''

Radio program

The Lee Deok-hwa and Im Ye-jin Show Song Chang-ho and Im Ye-jin's Ode to Youth
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Awards

  • 1975 Grand Bell Awards: Best New Actress
  • 2007 MBC Drama Awards: Best TV Host
  • 2008 MBC Entertainment Awards: Best Entertainer Award
  • 2009 MBC Entertainment Awards: Female Excellence Award in Variety