Kim Tae-ri

In The Handmaiden (2016), Kim Tae-ri makes Sook-hee's attraction to Kim Min-hee's Lady Hideko interesting before we have worked out whom to trust. She gives the young woman enough warmth that following the intrigue is only part of the pleasure. There is someone here whose happiness matters. It is a fine performance, and a large part of why director Park Chan-wook's clever erotic thriller remains worth caring about.

That feature debut was followed by the quieter, naturalistic work of Little Forest (2018) and a first major television role in the historical drama Mr. Sunshine (2018). Long-form television suits her ability to show a character growing, rather than asking youthful energy to carry every scene. As Na Hee-do in the sports romance Twenty-Five Twenty-One (2022), she brings that energy to a character given time to grow. Jeongnyeon: The Star Is Born (2024), a period music drama, puts her vocal versatility to work. The determined young women recur, though the demands of playing them change.

Our clearest reason for valuing her remains the partnership with Kim Min-hee. In The Handmaiden, neither actor lets the business of keeping secrets account for everything her character does. Kim Tae-ri makes curiosity about another person palpable, and the warmth between the two actresses makes trust seem possible. We were more moved than we expected by the tenderness between them in the sex scenes. They make the discovery of desire feel like something happening to two people we have come to care about.

The useful caution is that warmth alone will not make every determined heroine different. Little Forest offers a reason to seek out her quieter work as well as the forceful young women of the television dramas. In The Handmaiden, our reservation lies with Park's self-conscious camera, which sometimes gives the actresses' appearance more attention than their feeling. Start there, but watch for the tenderness rather than trying to get ahead of every secret.