A Literary Girl Discovers Acting

From a young age, Kim Yeon-woo loved poetry and novels, which led her to KU's Department of English Language and Literature out of a desire to study literature. Describing herself as having a "quiet and introverted" personality, unlike the mercurial characters she plays on screen, she says she diligently explored every corner of campus without standing out during her university days.

"I went to everything I was supposed to go to, like the Ko-Yon Games, the Ipselenti festival, club activities, and department retreats. Though I did doze off a bit in class because I don't have much stamina (laughs). When I had time, I watched a lot of movies on DVD at the Centennial Memorial Samsung Hall multimedia room, too. Oh, and I studied hard as well."

She was so diligent that she not only double majored in the School of Media & Communication, but also completed a teacher training course. What especially stands out in her memory is a drama class.
"It was a Shakespeare class, and for the first half of the semester, the professor had us analyze and present on his works, and for the other half, the professor had us choose a play as a group and act it out. We discussed the work amongst ourselves, cut down the script, and put it on stage in the classroom. There were a lot of difficult English lines so I struggled to memorize them, but it was a really amazing and fun experience. That's why it's so memorable.""

Kim, who had loved animated films since childhood, realized at one point that she could be part of the acting profession. From then on, she developed a fondness for voice acting, and after coming to KU, she fatefully met a group that instigated the thought she had buried deep in her heart. It was "On-Voicing", the first university voice acting club.

"On-Voicing was founded in September 2007. I started taking part in activities with them in 2008. It was a student-initiated club, so we didn't even have a club room back then. Everyone joined with the sole thought that it would be fun. We usually chose works like animations, live-action films, or dramas and put on dubbed versions, and since people with similar hobbies and tastes were gathered together, it was so enjoyable. We each performed works we liked and hung out a lot.""

"The charm of voice acting is freely playing diverse characters. I can express emotions that I would never express as myself normally."

The Joy of Meeting Various Selves in the World of Alter Egos

After returning from KU’s international student exchange program, she pondered her career path, seeing what she wanted to do not as a job but as a profession, and without hesitation, began the life of an aspiring voice actor. While attending school, she completed a voice acting course at the KBS Broadcasting Academy and enrolled in a voice acting academy, steadily walking the path to becoming a voice actor.

"I felt I had to earn money for the academy tuition myself. Wanting to do something related to voice acting, if possible, I worked part-time at a welfare center for the visually impaired, reading newspapers and books for them, and I also participated in a project at the school's Research Institute of Korean Studies, recording pronunciations for a KU dictionary they were making."

Four years of preparation passed like that, and in 2013, she was successful at the open recruitment she had dreamed of at Daewon Broadcasting. Starting her career as a professional voice actor, Kim expanded from voicing animations to dubbing foreign films, games, audiobooks, advertisements and more as a freelancer from 2015, playing diverse characters in a variety of content. She made her name known in earnest through Sombra in the game "Overwatch", the drama "Yumi's Cells", and as Nezuko in the anime "Demon Slayer".

"The charm of voice acting is freely playing extremely a variety of characters in diverse works. You can transcend physical attributes, gender, age, and even play various species. I feel exhilarated expressing emotions through acting that I would never express normally as myself."

From bright and innocent characters to intense and androgynous ones, she is gaining the love of a wide range of fans through her broad acting skills and unique voice.

Filmography
Games
"Overwatch" Sombra
"MapleStory" Kaling
"Cookie Run: Kingdom" Gold Cheese Cookie, etc.

Animation
"Yumi's Cells" Fashion Cell and others
"The Boy and the Heron" Himi
"Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba the Movie: Mugen Train" Kamado Nezuko, etc.

A Continuous Journey Towards Achieving Dreams

Kim empathized with the anxiety and despair felt by juniors striving to achieve their dreams, while also finding them admirable. She humbly says she went through that entire process herself and was simply lucky.

"It's truly daunting. You don't know how long it will take. I think I just endured it. I often went to Daehangno and watched a lot of inexpensive plays, and took care of my mental health by hanging out with friends. I think mental selfcare is really important when preparing for something uncertain like voice acting. I want to tell juniors to have a Plan B in mind."

Kim Yeon-woo, who wants to work on even more diverse projects for 20-30 years to come, is counting down the days until the historical pure romance manga she loved is made into an animation someday. We hope for the day when the characters we never tire of loving will appear, voiced by her.