Actress Kim Hye Yoon candidly opened up about the hardships she endured during her seven years as an unknown actress.
On the January 14 broadcast of tvN’s variety program 'You Quiz on the Block' (Episode 327), Kim Hye Yoon appeared as a guest and reflected on her difficult early career, revealing the emotional and physical toll of her long period in minor roles.
During the episode, Kim shared that she was often met with harsh criticism on set during her rookie days. She recalled being told things such as, “What’s the point of having good pronunciation if you can’t act properly? That’s why you’re an amateur.” Kim explained that after being scolded so frequently, she eventually learned to manage her own mental state.
“I realized that if you really listen to those words, some of them are true,” she said. “If I kept thinking, ‘I got yelled at, I’m discouraged,’ I would become even more intimidated on set and couldn’t do what I needed to do.” Kim also revealed that she attended over 100 auditions starting at the age of 17, but was rejected repeatedly. Over time, she admitted she began to think, “Maybe I’m just someone who always gets rejected.”
She went on to speak honestly about her height complex, which often came up during auditions. “I’m 158 cm, but I wrote 160 cm. Everyone already knew, but I still said I was 2 cm taller,” she said with a bittersweet laugh. “There were so many scoldings. Some of the things said to me can’t even be broadcast. I heard a lot of verbal abuse on set. Whenever something upsetting happened, I cried on the way home in my car. Even when I took public transportation, I cried many times.”
Kim Hye Yoon also revealed that she worked entirely without an agency for seven years, traveling alone to filming locations by public transportation or on buses designated for supporting actors. She recalled waiting for hours at 24-hour cafés until buses arrived, only to spend up to nine hours on set without ever being called for filming.
“I thought I wasn’t worth being taken care of,” she said, explaining why she refused heaters and hot packs provided to others. As a high school student, she even suffered frostbite on her fingers. “This might be the first time I’ve talked about it,” Kim confessed. “My fingers swelled badly, and eventually my fingernails fell off. The hospital said it was because it was that cold. But I just let it pass.”
Her story moved viewers deeply, shedding light on the unseen sacrifices behind her success and highlighting the harsh realities many aspiring actors face before finally stepping into the spotlight.
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