Claudia Kim

Kim was born as Kim Soo-hyun in South Korea, on January 25, 1985. She spent six years of her childhood in the United States before returning to South Korea. Her dream in middle school was to become an international lawyer, and in high school she hoped to become a TV anchor. She was inspired by watching CNN's headline news anchor Karuna Shinsho in Asia. She completed her studies abroad to continue her dream of becoming an anchor and entered Ewha Womans University as an International Studies (DIS) major. While enrolled, she worked as a reporter and announcer for three years in the school's English-language newspaper, Ewha Voice. She also worked as an intern reporter for The Korea Times and Arirang TV. Kim's interests in music, film, and other entertainment led her to participate in a Korea-China modeling competition in 2005, which she won top prize in. Kim was the first winner of the award who had never worked as a model. Producer Oh Se-kang saw Kim on a morning talk show, which led to her acting debut in the television series Queen of the Game (2006). Kim plays Park Joo-won, a friend of Lee Shin-jeon (Joo Jin-mo) and a law firm's international lawyer who loves him. For the drama, she won the New Star award at the 2006 SBS Awards for Acting.