How Shim Eun-kyung Became the First Korean to Win the Best Actress Award in Japan: From Child Star to Studying in the U.S. to Making Her Mark in Japan, the Award-winning Box Office Queen Shim Eun-kyung's Acting Career

What is the face of Shim Eun-kyung that you remember? Is it Nami, the princess from (2011)? Is it the court lady, Sawol, from (2012)? Or the young image of Nam Moon-hee from (2014)? Going even further back, some audience members might remember her youthful days when she appeared as Ahn Jung-geun’s daughter in (2004).

The reason everyone has a different image of Shim Eun-kyung in their minds is that she has a plethora of hit works. However, her acting career is filled with unusual choices for a 'box office queen'. For example, after gaining recognition as the child actress in (2006) and (2012), she expressed her desire to experience a normal high school life and went to study abroad in the U.S. alone. At that time, Shim Eun-kyung wrapped up filming (2011) and headed to the U.S. During her studies, she briefly returned to Korea for the filming of , which she described as a choice made to "not lose her acting sense while continuing her studies". The movie she filmed during her studies attracted ten million viewers. Although she was in a supporting role, her performance was so impressive that Lee Byung-hun also praised it.

Having earned the title of 'acting prodigy', Shim Eun-kyung suddenly challenged the Japanese stage in 2017. Ever since she was young, she had dreamed of being a rock star and loved Japanese animation. She revealed that her venture into Japan was not an impulsive choice but a resolution she made after a long-standing desire. It seems her long-awaited dream came true, as she received successful reviews in Japan with the thought-provoking film . Based on Shinzo Abe’s historical scandal, Shim Eun-kyung portrayed the journalist Yoshikawa, aiming her pen toward the darkness of power, effectively expressing her strong inner convictions, and delivered an excellent performance in Japanese. With this work, Shim Eun-kyung won the Best Actress Award at the 43rd Japan Academy Awards. Afterwards, she consecutively won the Best Actress Awards at the Takasaki Film Festival and the Mainichi Film Concours with (2020), proving that her achievement in was not a one-time occurrence.

After that, the work Shim Eun-kyung chose was the new film by the world's acclaimed young Japanese director, 미야케 쇼, titled <여행과 나날>. The fact that she chose 미야케 쇼's film next shows that her choices are still not converging in one direction. <여행과 나날> has already won the Golden Leopard, the top prize at the Locarno International Film Festival, and was recently selected as number one in the 'Top 10 Japanese Films' by Kinema Junpo, making it a double celebration.

Actress Shim Eun-kyung won the Best Actress Award at the 99th Kinema Junpo Best Ten for the film <여행과 나날>. 'Kinema Junpo', founded in 1919, is the oldest and most prestigious film magazine in Japan. This is the first time a Korean actor has received the Best Actress Award from Kinema Junpo, and it has been 33 years since a foreign actor won the Kinema Junpo Best Actress Award after Ruby Moreno in 1993.

It all began when nine-year-old Shim Eun-kyung knocked on the doors of an acting academy to change her introverted personality, marking the start of her 'unconventional journey'. Now, a 23-year veteran actress, Shim Eun-kyung still says, "Every day I wonder if I am truly suited to be an actress," which is why her unconventional journey is something to look forward to.