Profile | Who is Lim Ji-yeon, actress best known for K-dramas The Glory and The Tale of Lady Ok?

Lim found fame in steamy drama Obsessed, stopped being typecast after her role in The Glory, and has not looked back since

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Korean actress Lim Ji-yeon is best known for her part in Netflix K-drama The Glory. Photo: Netflix

Published: 4:15am, 14 Dec 2024Updated: 4:59am, 14 Dec 2024

Viewers around the world have been paying attention to Korean actress Lim Ji-yeon ever since her scene-stealing part as the villain in the Netflix hit The Glory, and she has been showing her range as the title character in The Tale of Lady Ok.

In the latter series, currently airing, she plays a former servant who transforms herself when she is given the chance to take the name of a noblewoman. While Lim ably navigates the various shades of the complex role, her success has been hard won.

A native of the Geumho neighbourhood in Central Seoul, Lim dreamed of being an actress from a young age but, like many other performers, she encountered resistance from her parents.

Undaunted, Lim followed her passion and enrolled in the Korea National University of Arts (K-Arts), where she majored in acting. She enrolled in 2009, the same year as future stars Byun Yo-Han and Park Jung-min.

Lim Ji-yeon in a still from The Tale of Lady Ok.

Lim appeared in a few short films while at university, and got her first major opportunity towards the end of her time there, when she was cast in a leading role in Obsessed, a drama about an affair, acting opposite Song Seung-heon.