Kim Ah Joong

Kim Ah-joong is a South Korean actress, model, and singer born on October 16, 1982. She is best known for playing the lead character in the romantic comedy film 200 Pounds Beauty. Alongside her entertainment career, Kim holds a master's degree in journalism from Korea University.

Kim began her film career in 2005 with her debut in the romance movie When Romance Meets Destiny. Around this time, she appeared in numerous commercials and secured her first primary television role in the daily soap opera Bizarre Bunch.

Her career breakthrough came with the comedy film 200 Pounds Beauty, in which she portrayed an overweight woman who undergoes cosmetic surgery to transform into a pop sensation. Her performance garnered her the Best Actress award at the 2007 Grand Bell Awards. For the film's soundtrack, she recorded "Beautiful Girl" as well as the Korean version of "Maria." Her release of "Beautiful Girl" won Cyworld's Digital Music Award for Song of the Month.

Following a three-year break from acting, Kim returned to star alongside Hwang Jung-min in the romantic comedy series The Accidental Couple. In 2010, she was cast in the medical drama Sign, written by Kim Eun-hee, playing the role of a forensic scientist. That same year, she joined the U.S.-Chinese sci-fi film project Amazing, a movie centered on the development of a virtual-reality basketball game.

In September 2011, Kim was found guilty of tax evasion and ordered to pay an additional $600,000 fine, leading to a split with her management. The scandal resulted in her being banned from television broadcasts in South Korea from late 2011 until late 2014. During this period, she focused her career on feature films, co-starring with Ji Sung in the 2012 romantic comedy My PS Partner and appearing in the 2013 romantic comedy Steal My Heart.

Kim made her return to television in the legal drama Punch, earning positive reviews for her performance as a prosecutor. She went on to star in the 2016 crime thriller series Wanted and the 2017 time-slip romantic comedy Live Up to Your Name alongside Kim Nam-gil. She was subsequently cast in the 2018 film adaptation of OCN's crime drama Bad Guys, and later starred as a detective in the 2022 science fiction thriller series Grid.

In addition to her screen roles, Kim has taken part in several official appointments. She served as a Goodwill Ambassador for FranceExpress in 2009 and received the Prime Minister Commendation on the 46th Savings Day that same year. In 2015, she was appointed as an ambassador for the 17th Seoul International Women's Film Festival.