Kim Tae-ri Wins Best Actress at the Baeksang Arts Awards! From ‘Newcomer Monster’ to ‘Acting Textbook’, What Makes Her Stand Out

Ten years in the making: From serving as a maid in ‘Miss’ to becoming a leading actress in the national drama ‘Zhengnian’, her story is more inspiring than any script

Who would have thought that Kim Tae-ri, who won the Baeksang Arts Awards for Best Actress in 2022 with ‘Twenty-Five, Twenty-One’, would win again after three years! At the 61st Baeksang Arts Awards in 2025, she defeated tough competitors like Jang Na-ra and IU with the historical drama ‘Zhengnian’, becoming the first ‘two-time Best Actress’ among female actors born in the 1985s. Netizens commented, ‘While others win awards by luck, she wins through ‘learning from others’!’ (After all, she once said in her speech, ‘Learning is something you have to steal yourself!’)

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From ‘learning from others’ to ‘legendary’, her comeback is more thrilling than a Korean drama

In 2016, Kim Tae-ri’s name was still unknown. At that time, she had just ‘graduated’ from the theater club as a junior member but shot to fame with Park Chan-wook’s ‘Miss’. In the film, she played the maid ‘Suk-hee’ with a captivating aura, acting opposite to the leading actress Kim Min-hee without any hesitation, and was even praised by the director as ‘those clear eyes are like a little deer’. This film swept eight newcomer awards for her, establishing her foothold in Chungmuro, the Hollywood of the Korean film industry, and earning her the title of ‘Newcomer Monster’.

But Kim Tae-ri’s ambition did not stop there. The range of roles she took on was astonishing: from the noble and dignified aristocratic lady in ‘Mr. Sunshine’ to the tough and handsome female space captain in ‘Victory’, and then to the desperate examinee possessed by a ghost in ‘Evil Spirit’, each role was a complete subversion like ‘changing faces’. Netizens joked, ‘She probably maxed out the skill of ‘changing faces’!’

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