South Korean actress Kim Sae Ron. Photo from Kim’s Instagram

According to Forbes, Kim was found dead at her home in Seoul, South Korea, by a friend on Sunday. The police are investigating the cause of her death, but initial reports found no signs of foul play.

Kim’s life was marked by both remarkable successes and significant challenges, as she began her career with early achievements but faced controversy in her later years.

The actress was hailed as a “child prodigy” in acting in South Korea, having portrayed many characters with tragic fates and complex psychologies. Her debut film was the 2009 movie “A Brand New Life,” in which she played a nine-year-old girl abandoned by her father at an orphanage, learning to adapt to her new life. The film won the Best Asian Film award at the 22nd Tokyo International Film Festival, and thanks to her role, Kim became the youngest South Korean artist to attend the Cannes Film Festival.

A year later, she starred in “The Man from Nowhere,” portraying So Mi, a neighbor of former special agent Cha Tae Sik, played by veteran actor Won Bin. The film was a massive success, grossing US$43 million and becoming the highest-grossing film in South Korea that year.

At 14, Kim won Best New Actress at the 2014 Blue Dragon Awards for her role in “A Girl at My Door.” She portrayed Do Hee, a girl from a small rural area suffering from family violence and rescued by a policewoman. Kim’s ability to capture her character’s complex psychology earned her praise, and she became the youngest actress nominated for Best Actress at South Korea’s prestigious Baeksang Awards. The film also brought her back to the Cannes Film Festival for a second time.

Between 2009 and 2022, Kim appeared in 11 films and 19 drama series.

However, her early fame came with many challenges. In a 2018 episode of a show on South Korea’s JTBC, she revealed she was bullied throughout elementary and high school due to her fame and the unusual roles she often portrayed. After the success of “The Man from Nowhere,” the bullying intensified.

“Classmates wrote curses and terrible things about me on the school playground, along the walls on the street,” Kim shared on the show. “I often walked home barefoot because people hid my shoes.”

She also mentioned how classmates would invite her to meet outside but would never show up, and not even one classmate attended her birthday party. She expressed hope for a better experience once she entered university.

Kim’s family background was also troubled. Her mother, who suffered from depression, once posted on social media about wanting to end her life with her daughters. At the time, Kim’s crying convinced her mother to stop. Both of Kim’s sisters also pursued acting but were unsuccessful, making Kim spend many years caring for her family.

In 2022, Kim was involved in a drunk driving incident, crashing into a guardrail and transformer, according to The Korea Times. She was fined 20 million won (US$13,875), and in the aftermath, she lost all her advertising and film contracts, including a role in Netflix’s “Bloodhounds.” She also had to compensate the brands involved. Her management company advanced her money to handle the situation but did not renew her contract.

According to her attorney, Kim had no valuable assets at the time of the accident, with all her earnings going toward her family’s living expenses.

Afterward, Kim struggled financially, taking on several part-time jobs and using the name Kim Ah Im for job applications. However, in March 2023, as she posted photos of herself working at a café, it was revealed that she had never actually worked there, as per The Straits Times.

In March 2024, Kim sparked another controversy by posting a photo on social media showing her and South Korean actor Kim Soo Hyun leaning on each other’s cheeks, leading to speculation that they were dating. Kim Soo Hyun’s agency subsequently denied the claim, and since Kim Soo Hyun’s drama “Queen of Tears” was generating buzz at the time, many speculated that the actress had posted the photo to gain attention.

Due to the public backlash against her, the production team of “Dongchimi,” a play project Kim was set to join, announced in April 2024 that she would drop out due to “health reasons.”

South Korean news portal Nate reported that Kim had been seeing a psychologist for treatment due to malicious comments and false rumors.

Last year, she filmed the independent movie “Guitar Man,” which is yet to be scheduled for release. South Korean news outlet Hankyung reported that a close friend of Kim’s shared that the actress had never given up on her dream of returning to acting. She had also been planning to open a café in Seoul, according to this person.