--- name: "Kim Roe-ha" canonical: "https://film.one/person/kim-roi-ha" fi1m_id: "kim-roi-ha" imdb_id: "nm1323287" tmdb_id: 69379 wikidata_id: "Q10855807" roles: ["Actor"] born: "15 November 1965" reviewed_on_fi1m: 1 average_as: "actor" average_over: 1 updated: "2026-09-27T07:51:28.752962+00:00" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Kim Roe-ha ## Identity Kim Roe-ha - **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/kim-roi-ha - **Type:** Person - **Fi1m ID:** kim-roi-ha - **IMDb ID:** nm1323287 - **TMDB ID:** 69379 - **Wikidata ID:** Q10855807 - **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Roi-ha, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10855807, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1323287/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/69379 Actor. Born 15 November 1965 in Gyeonggi, South Korea. ## Details - **Work:** Actor - **Born:** 15 November 1965, Gyeonggi, South Korea - **Active:** 2000–2006 - **Also known as:** Kim Roi-ha, 김뢰하, 金雷夏 - **Frequently works with:** [Bong Joon Ho](https://film.one/person/bong-joon-ho.md), [Byun Hee-bong](https://film.one/person/byun-hee-bong.md) - **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Roi-ha, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q10855807, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1323287/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/69379 ## Fi1m on Kim Roe-ha > Kim Roe-ha is the man Korean cinema calls when a scene needs a fist. In Bong Joon-ho's *Memories of Murder* he makes violence funny and then not funny inside one kick, harder than it looks. Elsewhere, a dependable supporting player, seldom asked for more. The first time Detective Cho Yong-koo meets a suspect in *Memories of Murder* (2003), he runs at him and drop-kicks him. Bong Joon-ho stages it like slapstick, and Kim Roe-ha plays it that way too: a man doing something absurd with complete conviction, as if the flying kick were a standard part of the procedure. We laughed. The man on the floor is Baek Kwang-ho, whom Park No-sik plays as a frightened child in a grown body, and by the second kick we felt sick and a little ashamed of the first laugh. That is Kim's gift, or the part of it we have seen up close: he is funny and appalling in one movement, and he never signals which one he thinks he is being. The career around that kick is a working actor's. He began in theatre in 1989 and in short films from 1994, and came to features in 1998 with *Whispering Corridors* among others. Bong cast him in his debut, *Barking Dogs Never Bite* (2000), in a part billed only as Shadow Man, then in *Memories of Murder*, and a third time in *The Host* (2006), where the credit reads Yellow Suit at Funeral. Between them came a jailer in *Save the Green Planet* (2003) and the gangster Moon-seok in Kim Jee-woon's *A Bittersweet Life* (2005). Since then he has kept up a steady run of supporting parts in film and television into the 2020s, and kept up the stage work alongside, including portrayals of historical figures. The pattern is plain. He is cast as detectives, gangsters and officials, the intense or authoritative men who stand at the edge of a scene and make it a little more dangerous. He is good at it, and directors know it, which is exactly the problem: a face that reads as menace gets asked for menace, and the filmographies list him in secondary roles nearly every time. Bong is the director who has done most with him, because Bong is interested in what happens when the frightening man is also a fool. Cho is not a villain. He is a bad detective who believes he is a good one, and Kim gives him a wounded dignity that makes the kicking worse, not better. We should be honest about the size of our evidence. We have reviewed one of his films, and it happens to be one of the best of its kind we know, so he arrives on this page with the wind behind him. Whether the gangster in *A Bittersweet Life* or the jailer in *Save the Green Planet* have the same double edge we cannot say; the reputation suggests presence, not much more. Start with *Memories of Murder*, then, and watch the kick. Watch what his face is doing while his feet are in the air. Korean cinema has found plenty of uses for that face over three decades; it has not often asked what else is behind it. ## Biography Kim Roi-ha (also credited as Kim Roe-ha) is a South Korean actor. He studied ceramics at Dankook University and began his career in theatre and short films in the 1990s. He is known for roles in Bong Joon-ho films including *Barking Dogs Never Bite* (2000) as the Shadow Man, *Memories of Murder* (2003) as Detective Cho Yong-koo, and *The Host* (2006). Other film credits include *A Bittersweet Life* (2005) and *Save the Green Planet!* (2003). He won Best Actor at the 2001 Dong-A Theatre Awards for his stage portrayal of Yeonsangun of Joseon in *Yi*, a role he reprised in 2010. He has also appeared in television series such as *Voice* (2017) and *Connect* (2022). In 2006 he married actress Park Yoon-kyung. *Sources: en.wikipedia.org, imdb.com.* ## On Fi1m (1) - *Memories of Murder* (2003), Fi1m 91, as Detective Cho Yong-koo — [page](https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder.md) ## Complete filmography (47) Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page. - *Undercover Miss Hong* (2026), series, as Bong Dal-su - *Incoherence* (2025), as Prosecutor - *No Parking* (2025), Actor - *The Trunk* (2024), series, as Narcotics Detective Ma - *My Sweet Mobster* (2024), series, as Seo Tae-Pyeong - *Connect* (2022), series, as Choi Do-hun - *Dutiful Son* (2022), as Gil-nam - *Crime Puzzle* (2021), series, as Kim Gwan-ho - *The Road: The Tragedy of One* (2021), series, as Hwang Tae-Seop - *Kingdom: Ashin of the North* (2021), as Tahab - *Joseon Exorcist* (2021), series, as King Taejo - *The Running Mates: Human Rights* (2019), series, as Han Gwang-ho - *Let Me Introduce Her* (2018), series, as Detective Kim - *Voice* (2017), series, as Nam Sang-tae - *The Sound of Your Heart* (2016), series, as Mex / Kim Nam-Chul - *Proof of Innocence* (2016), as Park - *Late Night Restaurant* (2015), series, as Cheol-min - *The Stone* (2014), as Nam-hae - *Monster* (2014), as Ik-sang - *Inspiring Generation* (2014), series, as Shin Ga-jeom - *Doomsday Book* (2012), as Seok-woo's Father - *A Brave New World* (2012), as Seok-woo's father - *Hindsight* (2011), as Kim Gi-cheol - *Killer Girl K* (2011), series, as Jang Se-wook - *A Little Pond* (2010), as Gae-bi's father - *Legend of the Patriots* (2010), series, as Park Il Kwon - *The Weird Missing Case of Mr. J* (2009), as Inspector Park - *Dachimawa Lee* (2008), as General Kim - *Radio Dayz* (2008), as Noh Bong-al - *Wide Awake* (2007), as Lee Myung-suk - *Money's Warfare* (2007), series, as 김동구 - *Magang Hotel* (2007), Actor - *Lovers* (2006), series, as Nam Chang Bae - *The Host* (2006), as Yellow Suit at Funeral - *Detective Mr. Gong* (2006), as Mr. Cheon - *Forbidden Quest* (2006), as Eunuch Jo - *Special of My Life* (2006), series, Actor - *A Bittersweet Life* (2005), as Moon-seok - *Memories of Murder* (2003), as Detective Cho Yong-koo — Fi1m 91, [page](https://film.one/film/memories-of-murder.md) - *Save the Green Planet!* (2003), as Jailer - *H* (2002), as Middle-aged Man - *Jungle Juice* (2002), as Ak-eo - *Barking Dogs Never Bite* (2000), as Shadow Man - *Rainbow Trout* (1999), as Hunter - *The Soul Guardians* (1998), as Kim Seok-tae - *Whispering Corridors* (1998), as Math Teacher - *White Man* (1994), as W ## Gallery - ![Kim Roe-ha](https://film.one/media/person/94067/gallery-ad6a659804e1.jpg) Kim Roe-ha — 문화포털 (Official blog), CC BY 2.0 kr, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/98/Kim_Roi-ha_at_BIFF_2013.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled) - ![Kim Roe-ha](https://film.one/media/person/94067/gallery-698bf69ce192.jpg) Kim Roe-ha — Image via TMDB --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/kim-roi-ha