Five Fun Facts About Kim So Yeon

Kim So Yeon played the ruthless spy Kim Seon Hwa in "Iris," the ditzy prosecutor Ma Hye Ri in "Prosecutor Princess" and now she is the determined yet sympathetic police detective Park Jae Kyung in "Two Weeks."

For her role in "Iris" Kim received the People's Choice award and a KBS acting award,  but the actress had a two-year period where she did not work. During that time she wondered if she should choose another profession. Fortunately, she stuck with acting and made a very successful comeback.

Here are a few more facts you may not know about her.

1) She says that it was her break from acting that defined her as an actress.

"When you are forced to take a break like that you feel very determined afterward," said Kim.

She debuted in 1994 with the drama "Dinosaur Teacher" and things went well until her 2005 drama "Autumn Showers" got such poor ratings that she began to doubt her calling.

"It wasa  time filled with doubts. I wondered whether I wasted a lot of time acting," she said.

In 2008, she returned with the drama "Gourmet," which was followed by her role as a North Korean spy in "Iris." Her performance in "Prosecutor Princess" also earned praise, but she never felt she could relax after her taste of failure.

"Filming became a more urgent need than ever," she said. "Shooting a scene became more precious than it did when I was younger.

2) She doesn't worry about playing such widely different roles.

"My goal is to become an actor with many different faces," she said.

3) She has dated fellow actors, but she won't say which ones.

"I've dated more than one," said Kim.

As to her ideal type, it's a man who can make her heart beat faster even after she has seen him a hundred times. She wants a man who is a friend and likes to joke around. When it comes to appearance, the first impression is the most important.

4) If she were not going to continue as an actress, she would like to narrate documentaries or do voiceovers or even host a radio show.

5) While the 32-year-old actress would like to marry in her mid-thirties, she wants to continue acting and has no plans to give it up.

"I want to keep working non-stop and do everything I possibly can, because I know that waiting around is really hard."