Yumi’s Cells 3 heart-throb Kim Jae-won on taking risks and rising to stardom with first lead role

SEOUL – At just 25, Kim Jae-won has built a resume defined by bold, unconventional choices – an unusual trajectory for an actor who has established himself as one of K-drama’s leading men.

From playing a sexually conflicted older brother who dies by suicide in You And Everything Else (2025) to portraying a man who resorts to selling his body to older women for the sake of his love interest in The Art Of Sarah (2026), the actor has consistently gravitated towards emotionally thorny, high-risk material.

That willingness to shift personas on screen may have led Kim to what is arguably his biggest role yet: the male lead in the third season of Yumi’s Cells, opposite industry heavyweight Kim Go-eun (Guardian: The Lonely And Great God, 2016 to 2017; Exhuma, 2024).

Generating industry buzz from the start for its innovative blend of live-action storytelling and 3D animation, Yumi’s Cells follows Yu-mi (Kim Go-eun) through different chapters of love and heartbreak.

Much like the emotions in Pixar’s Inside Out (2015), the animated “cells” in Yu-mi’s mind narrate her inner emotional world, helping turn the series into one of South Korea’s most beloved romcoms.

After launching in 2021 as an adaptation of the wildly popular webtoon of the same name, followed by a second season in 2022, the franchise returned with what looks to be its final season, which is showing on HBO Max.

Kim Jae-won took over the role of Soon-rok, succeeding Yu-mi’s previous love interests Gu Woong (Ahn Bo-hyun) and Ba-bi (Park Jin-young), ultimately becoming Yu-mi’s final partner and husband in the series finale which aired on May 4.

Speaking to reporters in Seoul earlier in May, Kim reflected on the overwhelming response following Yumi’s Cells 3.

“Ever since it aired, a lot of people have been recognising me on the street,” he said. “I’ve been spending my days feeling grateful, realising just how much love the series is receiving.”

Joining an already beloved franchise naturally came with its own pressure, especially since Soon-rok is widely regarded by fans of the original webtoon as an almost impossibly ideal romantic figure.

Kim noted: “Honestly, Soon-rok in the original webtoon is such a unicorn-like younger man. Because he’s such an idealised character, I definitely felt a pleasant kind of pressure wondering whether I’d be able to portray him well.”

At the same time, he said he found reassurance in both the creative team’s guidance and his own natural resemblance to the character, which helped him ease into the role.

“Director Lee Sang-yeob told me I resembled Soon-rok physically,” he said. “I actually wore glasses like Soon-rok when I was younger, and I think viewers really responded to how closely the visuals matched.”

He added that the similarities extended to personality traits.

“People who know me personally also say we’re very alike,” he said. “I tend to act cute sometimes, and my friends told me that side of me came through a lot in the character.”

Asked what Yumi’s Cells ultimately means to him, Kim described the project as a defining chapter in both his career and personal life.

“It’s a project I’ll never forget,” he said. “I grew not only as an actor, but also as a person. Kim Go-eun taught me so much on set about the mindset a lead actor should have and the attitude you need to bring to a project. I learnt a lot about responsibility.”

Looking ahead, Kim made clear that he has no intention of being boxed into romance simply because the genre has brought him mainstream attention.

“I want to continue taking on a wide variety of roles,” he said. “Just because romance projects have been well-received doesn’t mean I think I should only keep doing romance. I want to challenge myself with genres I haven’t tried before. As an actor, my goal is to keep showing new sides of myself regardless of the role. I think that’s how I’ll continue building my career.”

That philosophy, he said, has already guided many of his choices so far, including his memorable turns in The Art Of Sarah and You And Everything Else.

“Those were very unconventional characters that I’d never played before,” Kim said. “They revealed sides of me I hadn’t shown previously, and I felt they could become major turning points in my career. Whenever I choose a project, the biggest question for me is always, ‘What’s something I haven’t done before?’” THE KOREA HERALD/ASIA NEWS NETWORK