Im Se-mi

Im Se-mi is a South Korean actress who has worked steadily on screen for about twenty years. Many global fans know her as the confident older sister Lim Hee-kyung in True Beauty (2020), while crime drama fans praise her as police officer Yoo Eui-jeong in The Worst of Evil (2023). She is known for playing strong, warm and honest women.

Im Se-mi is 167 cm (5 ft 6 in) tall.

Early life

Im Se-mi was born on May 29, 1987, in Seoul, South Korea. She went to Jinseon Girls' High School and then studied broadcasting and entertainment at Dongduk Women's University. She started work young, first as a catalog model for a clothing brand in 2004, before she moved into acting.

Career and breakthrough

She made her acting debut in the youth drama Sharp 2 and slowly built her career with roles in Heartstrings (2011) and That Winter, the Wind Blows (2013). She took her first leading roles in the daily dramas Only Love (2014) and Love on a Rooftop (2015). Her role as Baek Ma-ri in Shopping King Louie (2016) made her much more famous and won her a Golden Acting Award at the MBC Drama Awards.

Popular roles

In True Beauty (2020), Im Se-mi played Lim Hee-kyung, the cool and protective older sister of the heroine, and the role became a fan favourite. In The Worst of Evil (2023), she played Yoo Eui-jeong, a police officer caught between her job and her family. It was her first main role in a miniseries, and critics praised her calm and deep acting.

Recent work

Im Se-mi stayed busy with Duty After School (2023), where she played a kind teacher, Park Eun-young. She then appeared in Wonderful World (2024) as Han Yu-ri and in the political drama The Whirlwind (2024) as Seo Jeong-yeon. In 2025 she took a leading role in the sports drama The Winning Try, which showed her fresh and sporty side.