Nam Ji-hyun

1.1. Childhood and Background

Nam Ji-hyun was born on September 17, 1995, in Incheon, South Korea. She attended Incheon Baekun Elementary School, Incheon Sangjeong Middle School, and Incheon Cho-eun High School, all located in Incheon.

1.2. Education

In 2014, Nam Ji-hyun enrolled at Sogang University, majoring in Psychology. She successfully completed her degree in February 2020, demonstrating her ability to balance her academic pursuits with her active acting career.

2.1. Beginnings as a Child Actress

Nam Ji-hyun began her acting career in 2002 with an appearance on MBC's Radio Report, officially debuting in the 2004 MBC drama Say You Love Me. Early in her career, she became widely recognized for portraying the younger counterparts of prominent actresses in various television series. These roles included the young Maria (played by Jang Jin-young) in SBS's Lobbyist (2007), the young Princess Shim (future Queen Soheon, played by Lee Yoon-ji) in KBS's The Great King, Sejong (2008), the young Kim Ji-hyun (played by Han Ji-hye) in MBC's East of Eden (2008), and the young Princess Deokman (played by Lee Yo-won) in MBC's Queen Seondeok (2009). Her performance as the young Deokman in Queen Seondeok was particularly impactful, establishing her as a leading child actress.

Following these successes, she continued to take on significant child roles, such as the young Han Ji-wan (played by Han Ye-seul) in SBS's Will It Snow for Christmas? (2009), the young Hwang Jung-yeon (played by Park Jin-hee) in SBS's Giant (2010), and the young Yoo Ji-sun (played by Shin Hyun-bin) in SBS's Warrior Baek Dong-soo (2011). She also starred in the one-act drama Girl Detective, Park Hae-sol (2012) and appeared in the teen drama To the Beautiful You (2012). By 2010, she was noted as the most sought-after female child actress in Korea. Her film credits during this period include A Reason to Live (2011) and Hwayi: A Monster Boy (2013). Her strong performances as a child actress earned her the Best Young Actress awards at the 2008 and 2009 MBC Drama Awards and the 2012 KBS Drama Awards.

2.2. Transition to Leading Roles and Rising Popularity

In 2014, Nam Ji-hyun continued to take on pivotal roles, portraying the young Yoon Soo-wan (played by Ku Hye-sun) in SBS's Angel Eyes and Kang Seo-wool in KBS2's family drama What Happens to My Family?. These roles further showcased her growing range as an actress.

Her career saw a significant turning point in 2016 when she secured her first lead role in MBC's romantic-comedy series Shopping King Louie, starring opposite Seo In-guk. Her performance in the drama garnered considerable praise from viewers, effectively helping her shed her child actress image and successfully venture into romantic roles. For this role, she received the Best New Actress award at the 2016 MBC Drama Awards and the Best Entertainer Award in the drama category at the 1st Asia Artist Awards.

In 2017, she took on another lead role in SBS's legal drama Suspicious Partner alongside Ji Chang-wook. This marked a reunion for the two actors, who had previously worked together as younger and older counterparts in the 2011 historical drama Warrior Baek Dong-soo. While Suspicious Partner achieved modest overall viewership, it consistently led its time slot among the key 20-49 year old demographic and topped streaming, popularity, and brand reputation charts for several consecutive weeks. Her performance earned her the Excellence Award for an Actress in a Wednesday-Thursday Drama at the 2017 SBS Drama Awards.

Nam Ji-hyun continued her ascent in 2018 by starring with D.O. of Exo in the historical romance drama 100 Days My Prince. The series proved to be a significant commercial success, becoming the twelfth highest-rated Korean drama in cable television history. Its popularity extended beyond South Korea, with the drama also being broadcast on NHK General in Japan in 2020. The final episode achieved a peak viewership rating of 14.4%.

In 2020, Nam Ji-hyun starred as Shin Ga-hyun, a perfectionist webtoon writer, in the fantasy mystery thriller 365: Repeat the Year. This series was a remake of the Japanese novel Repeat. Her performance in the drama earned her the Top Excellence Award for an Actress in a Monday-Tuesday Miniseries at the 2020 MBC Drama Awards.

In 2021, she appeared in the two-episode JTBC Drama Festa special "Off Route" as Kang Su-ji and took on the lead role of Jeong Jin in the TVING original series The Witch's Diner. The following year, in 2022, she starred as Oh In-kyung in the critically acclaimed tvN weekend mini-series Little Women. In 2023, she played Choi Soo-young in the U+MOBILETV original series High Cookie. Her recent work includes the SBS Friday-Saturday mini-series Good Partner in 2024, where she plays Han Yu-ri, and the upcoming KBS2 Wednesday-Thursday mini-series Eun-aehaneun Dojeoknima in 2025 as Hong Eun-jo.

On October 4, 2022, it was announced that Nam Ji-hyun would hold a fan meeting titled "Welcome to my house!" on November 26, 2022. However, the ticket booking schedule, originally set for November 1, was postponed to November 8 due to the Seoul Halloween crowd crush.

3.1. Film

3.2. Television Series

3.3. Web Series

3.4. Music Video Appearances

3.5. Broadcast Appearances