While in elementary school, she was a member of the national Taekwondo children's demonstration team, and in April 1982 was the flower girl to present a bouquet to Juan Antonio Samaranch, the seventh President of the International Olympic Committee (IOC).

[3] In 1985, Kim featured in a commercial for Nestlé Milo and as well as the first K-pop music video, Cho Yong-pil's title song Empty In The Air.

[10] At this time, she reinvented her image as a glamorous and confident femme fatale in Hypnotized (2004),[11] Kim's roles in The Red Shoes (2005)[12] and Tazza: The High Rollers (2006) were her most recognised and ushered her into the highest ranks of the Korean film industry A-list.

[10][13] Various film roles followed, such as a housewife secretly dating a college student in A Good Day to Have an Affair;[14] a non-plussed aunt in Shim's Family;[15] a prostitute in Eleventh Mom[16] and a bar singer in Modern Boy (2008).

[27] Kim, an avid documentary fan, was considered a perfect it for the programme as it shifted its focus more to environmental and global issues.

[34] In 2013, she headlined the romantic comedy The Queen of Office (also known as Goddess of the Workplace), an adaptation of the 2007 Japanese drama Haken no Hinkaku ("Pride of the Temp").

She said she didn't mind looking unattractive for her role as a ruthless crime boss, with makeup artists adding age spots to her face, gray to her hair, and flab to her stomach and hips with prostheses.

Kim as Cha Soo-hyun, acted opposite Lee Je-hoon and Cho Jin-woong as the first female police officer in the Special Task Force, later becoming the leader of the Seoul Cold Case Aquad.

Kim Hye-soo shared vivid stories of their journeys and expressed admiration for their resilience, particularly among children living alone without family or guardians.

[52] in June 2019, Kim signed on to appear in The Day I Died: Unclosed Case, Park Ji-wan's directorial debut.

[61] In March 2022, Kim gained international recognition for her lead role as judge Shim Eun-seok in the Netflix series Juvenile Justice, the most popular non-English show for two weeks straight.

[63] Kim has been a popular Korean sex symbol since she wore a low-cut dress as a Blue Dragon Film Awards host and Best Actress winner in 1993, and came to epitomize the era's sexual revolution.

"[43] Her co-star Lee Sang-hee in the TV series Juvenile Justice said "Kim would write down unknown actors' names when she thought their acting was good, so that she could recommend them for suitable scripts in the future.

[73][74] Kim and character actor Yoo Hae-jin first met in 2001 after shooting the film Kick the Moon and became close in 2006 after appearing together in Tazza: The High Rollers.

Rumors of the two dating surfaced starting 2008 although both continuously denied any romantic involvement until early 2010 when paparazzi photographs of the two were released,[75][76] and the couple officially confirmed their relationship.

[80] In 2008, Kim donated the full amount of the narration fees of the documentary film "Forgiveness, Are You at the End of the Way" to the crime victim support fund.

[87] In 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic exposed a shortage of masks, Kim donated ₩100 million to Hope Bridge Disaster Relief Association.

[89] On August 9, 2022, Kim donated ₩100 million to help those affected by the 2022 South Korean floods through the Hope Bridge Korea Disaster Relief Association.

[92] On July 17, 2023, Kim donated ₩100 million to aid recovery from the 2023 South Korea floods through Hope Bridge National Disaster Relief Association.