Kim Nam-gil

Kim Nam-gil (김남길), born March 13, 1980 in Seoul, is a South Korean actor, producer, director, singer, and philanthropist who has spent two decades proving he does not repeat himself. His career began in 1999 with a minor KBS youth drama role. He passed the 2003 MBC talent audition, spent years in supporting parts, and made his first bold move in 2006: the indie queer drama No Regret, which screened at the Berlin Film Festival. His real turning point came with Portrait of a Beauty (2008). Then Queen Seondeok (2009) arrived, and his villain Bidam became one of the most-discussed character performances of that year. He followed with Bad Guy (2010), The Pirates (2014), the disaster blockbuster Pandora (2016), and the crime thriller Memoir of a Murderer (2017). Forbes Korea ranked him 17th in their 2020 Top 40 Most Powerful Stars. In 2019, he launched The Fiery Priest on SBS to a peak 22.0% viewership rating, one of the decade's biggest hits. He returned for The Fiery Priest 2 in November 2024. In 2021 he founded Gilstory ENT, a full entertainment company, alongside his long-running Gilstory non-profit dedicated to cultural heritage and humanitarian relief. In 2026, he appears in a cameo in tvN's crime-thriller black comedy Mad Concrete Dreams.