Kim Eun-sook
Kim in 2016
Born	1973 (age 51–52) Gangneung,Gangwon Province, South Korea
Education	Seoul Institute of the Arts – Creative Writing
Occupation	Screenwriter
Years active	2003–present
Agent	Hwa&Dam Pictures(subsidiary ofStudio Dragon)
Spouse	Choi Sang-hyun
Korean name
Hangul	김은숙
Hanja	金銀淑
Revised Romanization	Gim Eunsuk
McCune–Reischauer	Kim Ŭnsuk

Kim Eun-sook (Korean: 김은숙; born 1973) is a South Koreanscreenwriter. She wrote the populartelevision dramasLovers in Paris (2004),Secret Garden (2010),A Gentleman's Dignity (2012),The Heirs (2013),Descendants of the Sun (2016),Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (2016–2017),Mr. Sunshine (2018), andThe Glory (2022–2023).

Kim first gained attention when hertelevision dramaLovers in Paris became a major hit in the summer of 2004, with viewership ratings averaging 41.3% and a peak of 57.6% (#11 highest rated of all time). The cast and crew flew to France to film several scenes inParis andNice, igniting a trend among Korean dramas for overseas location shoots. ACinderella-like story of a cheerful, ordinary girl who becomes the housekeeper of a cold and suave businessman, lead actorsPark Shin-yang andKim Jung-eun shared the Grand Prize ("Daesang") at the 2004SBS Drama Awards. Then at the2005Baeksang Arts Awards,Lovers in Paris won the following awards: the Daesang, Best TV Actress for Kim Jung-eun, and Best TV Screenplay for Kim Eun-sook and Kang Eun-jung. It also became popular internationally, and Kim Jung-eun was named Best Actress at the 2005Asian Television Awards.^{[citation needed]}

Kim chose another European setting for her next drama,Lovers in Prague (2005). In a gender reversal,Jeon Do-yeon played adiplomat inPrague, Czech Republic, who falls in love with a police detective, played byKim Joo-hyuk. Kim Eun-sook said she wanted to feature a romance in which the woman's social status is higher than her partner, and wanted to make the social difference between the two main characters as extreme as possible by also making the heroine the daughter of the president of South Korea. Kim added, "Although some might say it is another unrealistic story, a drama is a drama. I just want to make people enjoy the fantasy."^[1] Jeon won the Daesang at the 2005SBS Drama Awards, and Kim Joo-hyuk won Best TV Actor at the 2006Baeksang Arts Awards.

Kim tried her hand at writing for the big screen in the 2006 melodramaFly High (also known asLoving is Okay). Directed byKwak Ji-kyoon, it starredJi Hyun-woo as a high school student who falls for a girl with a terminal illness (Im Jung-eun). The film was a critical and box office disappointment,^[2] and Kim soon returned to her milieu, television.

Despite overseas shoots inHainan, China, the conclusion to Kim's loosely named "Loverstrilogy" was simply titledLovers (2006–2007). Based on the Lee Man-hee stage playTurn Around and Leave (that also inspired the 1998 filmA Promise), Kim again cast Kim Jung-eun, this time oppositeLee Seo-jin, as they played a plastic surgeon and a gangster entering into an unlikely romance.^[3][4] Though not as successful as its predecessors,Lovers recorded solid ratings in the high teens to low-20s.

Kim's next drama,On Air (2008), revolved around four entertainment industry figures - a newbie TV director (Park Yong-ha), an established screenwriter (Song Yun-ah, as Kim'salter-ego), a diva actress (Kim Ha-neul), and her struggling manager (Lee Beom-soo), whose personal and professional lives intertwine during the shooting of a fictional TV drama.^[5] Filled withcameos and a gossipy, insider look at stars behind the scenes,On Air was a hit, and directorShin Woo-chul (in his fourth collaboration with Kim) won Best TV Director at the2009Baeksang Arts Awards.

InCity Hall (2009),Cha Seung-won played an elite deputy mayor with presidential aspirations who unexpectedly falls for an unwitting female government employee-turned-town mayor (Kim Sun-a).^[6] Though she left space in the script for Cha and Kim toad-lib, Kim Eun-sook called it her funniest work. She said she used politics as a backdrop for the romance to show her idealism regarding public officials.^[7]

A love story between the rich, arrogant and eccentric president of a department store (Hyun Bin) and a brave but sweet stunt woman (Ha Ji-won) whosebodies switch souls whenever it rains,Secret Garden (2010–2011) became one of the biggest hits of Kim's career.^[8] After writing six dramas, Kim said she "contemplated on whether to write a drama that benefits the world or one that will garner good ratings" and decided to "abandon the depth I showed inCity Hall" (which recorded solid, if unimpressive, ratings in the high teens). Instead, she "made an easy, light drama for the whole family to enjoy on weekends," and intentionally wrote it "to be fun."^{[9][10][unreliable source?][11][unreliable source?]}Secret Garden won Best TV Drama at the2011Baeksang Arts Awards, as well as Best TV Screenplay for Kim, Best New TV Actress forYoo In-na, and the Daesang for Hyun.^[12] Kim also won Best Writer at theSeoul International Drama Awards, theKorea Drama Awards, and the Korea Content Awards.

By this time, the writer-director duo of Kim and Shin had gained a reputation for making hits, and their projects attracted high-profile actors. In 2012, after 12 years of acting in films, superstarJang Dong-gun made his television comeback inA Gentleman's Dignity. Jang said that Kim and Shin's involvement in the project influenced his decision. After repeatedly alluding to him inOn Air, Kim confessed her "ulterior motives" that she had really wanted to work on a drama with Jang. She and the crew were so determined to cast him in the lead that not only was the airdate moved back from March to late May to accommodate his schedule, but Kim, in the hopes of getting him to take the role, lied to Jang's wife, actressKo So-young that there would be no kissing scenes.^[13] Instead, Kim wrote racy and sexy scenes, as befitting what has been called a "40-year-old, male version ofSex and the City."^[14] The drama portrayed the humorous love lives of a group of close-knit male friends played by Jang,Kim Min-jong,Kim Soo-ro, andLee Jong-hyuk, and previousOn Air starKim Ha-neul played Jang's love interest.

Kim said she wrote the hero of 2013 dramaHe Who Wishes To Wear the Crown Endures Its Weight: Heirs (also known asThe Heirs orThe Inheritors, 2013) specifically for actorLee Min-ho.^[15] He starred oppositePark Shin-hye in aGossip Girl-esque trendy drama set in a high school populated by the uber-rich.^[16][17] Kim said the biggest difference was writing about 18-year-olds when her previous characters had been in their thirties and forties, callingThe Heirs "a teen romance for grown-ups". She admitted that she utilizesclichés, "but all my previous works used plenty of cliches and were embraced by audiences. The key is making characters that are different, so the audience forgets the clichéd setting. That's what I'm good at, and that is what I find fun. I want people to think, 'I've seen something like this before, but still this is strangely fun.'"^[18]

Three years sinceThe Heirs, Kim Eun-sook announced that she would be coming back with a human melodrama about a man and a woman who bond gradually as they save lives in disaster zones and end up falling in love. TitledDescendants of the Sun, the drama starredSong Joong-ki in his first television drama after military discharge along withSong Hye-kyo. Set in the fictional world of Uruk, Song Joong-ki plays a special forces captain who juggles peacekeeping duties with wooing a surgeon played by Song Hye-kyo. The military drama gained huge success and received immense popularity across Asia.^[19] It has given rise to the popularity of Korean soldier talk.^{[citation needed]} The show also contributed to the rise of tourism in Greece, where scenes of the drama were shot.^{[20][unreliable source?]}

The success ofDescendants saw a change in tide toward pre-produced Korean dramas. However, in an interview,Kim Won-seok (co-writer ofDescendants) stated that said there were some parts that could have been improved on if the show had been shot as it was being aired, per local industry norm.^[21]

Following the success ofDescendants of the Sun, Kim Eun-sook wrote her next two dramas,Guardian: The Lonely and Great God andMr. Sunshine for cable networkTVN in 2016 and 2018. Both dramas held the highest average nationwide ratings recorded for cable dramas—12.955% forMr. Sunshine, and 12.428% forGuardian: The Lonely and Great God—until the former's two-year long record was broken byThe World of the Married in 2020.

Kim Eun-sook returned to free-to-air television with the seriesThe King: Eternal Monarch onSBS. She worked again withLee Min-ho ofThe Heirs andKim Go-eun ofGuardian: The Lonely and Great God in the leading roles. After premiering with a promising double-digit rating of 10.1%,^[22] the drama peaked at 11.6%^[23] for the second episode but ratings slid to as low as 5.2%^[24] during the eleventh episode, the lowest ever recorded for her works including her cable dramas with the series received criticisms for its screenplay, direction and editing, leading to lower-than-expected domestic popularity in Korea.^[25][26][27]

Kim reunited withDescendants of the Sun star Song Hye-kyo in the Netflix's seriesThe Glory.^[28] The revenge series revolves around a victim of brutal high school bullying who dedicates her adulthood to plot revenge against perpetrators. It was released in two parts: Part 1 on December 30, 2022, and Part 2 on March 10, 2023.^[29]

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Kim's trademark is slick and glossy romantic comedies with fast-flying banter. Some critics have opined that Kim writes shallow characters, and she is as polarizing as she is successful. But not only do most of her dramas appeal to a wide age range of viewers and receive high ratings, but they often have that extra element that make them pop-culture buzz projects, whether it's due to a particularly catchy line of dialogue or a recurring joke.

In 2012, she received a Lifetime Achievement Award at theSBS Drama Awards.^[30]

On March 10, 2022, Kim made a donation₩60 millions to the Hope Bridge Disaster Relief Association to help the victims of the massive wildfire that started in Uljin, Gyeongbuk and has spread to Samcheok, Gangwon. and donated money₩40 millions to help victims of theRussian invasion of Ukraine.^[31]

On August 17, 2022, Kim donated ₩20 million to help those affected by the2022 South Korean floods through the Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief Association.^[32]

On March 7, 2023, Kim donated ₩20 million to the Hope Bridge National Disaster Relief Association to help in the restoration of Guryeong Village after a fire. Kim donated together with Hwa&Dam Pictures CEO Yoon Ha-rim; each donated ₩20 million each, for a total of ₩40 million.^[33]

• Kim Eun-sook atHanCinema
• Kim Eun-sook atIMDb

• Grand Prize Paeksang Arts Award (television) winners
• 1973 births
• Living people
• South Korean screenwriters
• South Korean television writers
• Seoul Institute of the Arts alumni
• People from Gangneung

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