Despite her inexperience in show business, she left college and subsequently appeared in a Hanbul Cosmetics commercial with the slogan "I felt his scent on a strange woman," which jump-started her career.

Kim would first become well known as a film actress, debuting in the big-budget box office failure Yesterday,[5] but going on to play a lead role as a student teacher in the unexpected hit Wet Dreams.

[12] The forthright, independent personality she displayed in her leading role as a woman who finds unexpected success in life as a baker endeared her to women across Korea, and later Asia, establishing her as a top star.

[22] In the 2012 romantic comedy series I Do, I Do, Kim's character is a workaholic shoe designer who gets pregnant after a one-night stand with a much younger newbie employee, then meets a charming obstetrician.

[23][24] She returned to the big screen in 2013 thriller The Five, based on the popular webtoon by Jeong Yeon-shik, in which Kim played a woman who plots revenge against the serial killer who murdered her family and left her crippled (her performance later won Best Actress at the 34th Golden Cinema Festival).

[28] In 2017, Kim starred in the mystery thriller series The Lady in Dignity, playing a woman from a poor family whose ambition is to become a member of the upper class.

[31] In 2018, Kim starred in the romance melodrama Should We Kiss First?, playing a divorced flight attendant who finds a new love,[32][33] and mystery thriller drama Children of Nobody.

Na Hoon-a, a successful trot singer with a career spanning over 40 years, was falsely rumored to had been castrated by yakuza, because he was having an affair with the mistress of a gang boss.

[37][38] In 2015, Kim won the lawsuit she had filed against a plastic surgery clinic in Busan for breaching her publicity rights by using her name and photos in their advertising without her permission; she received ₩25 million in damages.