“I want to keep hearing the words ‘Did Ye-ri have this kind of face?’ There are still many characters I want to play, and there are many that I haven’t shown yet, so I want to act as long as I can.”
Kim Ye-rim, who has now entered her 10th year since her debut, has undergone a significant change. Instead of being called ‘Red Velvet’s youngest member Yeri,’ she is now being referred to as ‘Actress Kim Ye-rim.’ Leaving her familiar agency, Kim Ye-rim has embarked on her acting career more seriously, and the start feels very promising.
The drama ‘Cheongdam International High School,’ in which she played the lead role, has received good reviews and results not only in its first season but also in its second season, both domestically and internationally. Her acting skills have also been praised, recognizing her potential for growth as an actress. In fact, ‘Cheongdam International High School Season 2’ recorded the second highest ranking on Netflix in Korea and maintained a steady popularity, ranking fourth in the final week of its release. It also entered the Top 15 based on weekly viewership in its first week of airing on Rakuten Viki, which includes regions in the Americas, Europe, and Oceania, and ranked fourth in the Middle East and India, showing positive results.
Regarding the unexpected success of ‘Cheongdam International High School Season 2,’ Kim Ye-rim said, “I thought it would be nice just to be in the Netflix TOP 10, but seeing the ranking go up made me wonder, ‘Is this real?’ I’m just so grateful,” she said with a bright smile.
“Before filming, I had a lot to think about on my own, and it felt like a ‘personal battle.’ However, after the airing, I received a lot of good feedback, and it felt good to get responses to the things I had been contemplating. I still see many shortcomings in my acting and many things I need to improve, but having completed one chapter safely, I’m determined to do better next time.”
The high teen psychological thriller ‘Cheongdam International High School,’ which combines a power game at an elite school with youth romance, returned for its second season after two years, thanks to the popularity of the first season. While the first season depicted the precarious meeting between ‘Kim Hye-in’ (Lee Eun-sam), the only witness to a high school murder case, and ‘Baek Je-na’ (Kim Ye-rim), the queen of the school’s highest power group DIAMOND6, the second season portrays Hye-in, who becomes the first member of Diamond Six from a poor background, and Baek Je-na, who is on the verge of losing both friendship and succession.
“Including the readings, I feel like I’ve been Baek Je-na in ‘Cheongdam International High School’ since 2022. I’m grateful that I could do both Season 1 and Season 2, but more than that, I’m thankful that I could breathe with the same staff for such a long time, and I learned a lot because of it. When they announced Season 2, I had expectations, but I also felt a lot of pressure. There was a three-year gap between Season 1 and Season 2, so I wondered, ‘How did I act back then?’ The flow of time in the drama is almost non-existent. I worried that I might hear, ‘You did it this way in Season 1, but why are you doing it that way in Season 2?’ It was burdensome, but I focused on minimizing any sense of dissonance. Above all, many people had invested a lot in this project. The greater the pressure, the more I thought I should focus on the ‘basics.’ Now that filming is safely completed and everything is revealed, there are many good reviews for the drama, and I’m enjoying my own sense of pride these days.”
Baek Je-na is the only daughter of the top Hanmae Group that led South Korea's industrialization and a strong candidate for management succession. She is a character who reigns as the queen of DIAMOND6, the highest class at Cheongdam International High School, possessing money, power, and beauty. Although Kim Ye-rim has become Baek Je-na in ‘Cheongdam International High School,’ the real person she met seemed closer to a pure and innocent girl rather than being aloof or cold. In fact, Kim Ye-rim, who said, “Baek Je-na and I are very different,” added, “My nickname is ‘Ajareem.’ I tend to be clumsy, forgetful, and leave things behind,” smiling warmly.
“Baek Je-na and I are really different. Unlike Baek Je-na, I’m quite clumsy. Since my personality, the way I usually speak, and my tone are all different, I had a lot of thoughts about how to create Baek Je-na. Because of that, I initially thought this project was a ‘do or die’ situation for me. Since I was acting such a different character, there were parts where I felt a sense of dissonance. However, I didn’t have any specific characters that I referenced to portray Baek Je-na. I just kept reading the script over and over, thinking, ‘What is inside Je-na that makes her speak so sharply and act so aggressively?’ At one point, I wondered if I should find a character similar to Baek Je-na, but I thought that if it became too similar, it might affect my acting, so I didn’t look further.”
What Kim Ye-rim paid attention to while portraying Baek Je-na, beyond her speech, was styling. “In Season 1, everyone wore the same school uniform, as the director wanted to show the pride of Cheongdam International High School students who take pride in their uniforms more than any luxury brand. However, in Season 2, this aspect became a bit more free,” she revealed.
“While reading the script, I thought that external styling would be important to showcase the character of Baek Je-na. If it were Je-na, the worse the situation got, the more she would want to hide, and she would likely try to dress more extravagantly to cover it up. So, I went through many revisions in styling and had many discussions with the director. I even searched for ideas myself and chose colors... It wasn’t an easy process, but I feel proud that it was well expressed.”
The reason Kim Ye-rim, who was called ‘Ajareem,’ chose ‘Cheongdam International High School’ was purely because of the script. “I found it amazing that the script flowed so well, and I wanted to work on it because I was curious about the ending,” she said, adding, “Above all, Baek Je-na is a character I haven’t shown before, so I wanted to show that ‘I can act like this too.’”
“This was the first time I filmed with so many peers. Before we started filming, we had to get to know each other to act comfortably, so we had a lot of gatherings and spent a lot of time talking. Thanks to that, it was much easier to act during the actual filming. Our drama has many peers, but there are also many seniors. I learned a lot not only from the seniors’ acting but also through my friends. Especially through this project, I became very close with (Lee) Eun-sam. At one point, I thought, ‘What if we get too close and can’t act together?’ But interestingly, when the shoot started, I was able to immerse myself. Eun-sam is both a friend and a senior in acting for me, so I could rely on her and learn a lot. And (Won) Kyu-bin and (Kim) Min-kyu joined in Season 2. They adapted well as if they had been there from the start. Since we are all peers, we played well together, both as a group and separately. (Laughs)”
While there are peer actors in ‘Cheongdam International High School,’ Kim Ye-rim also has her past as Yeri, a stage name she used while active in Red Velvet. When asked if the Red Velvet members watched the drama, she revealed, “All the unnis said they watched it well.”
“They even sent me texts. But I feel like they didn’t all watch it... There wasn’t anyone who gave particularly outstanding feedback, but they generally said they watched it well. However, they usually talk about the works I’ve been in.” (Laughs)
Having safely completed the character of Baek Je-na, when asked how she would rate her acting, Kim Ye-rim replied, “Honestly, I don’t want to rate my acting separately. Scores can go up and down, right? I see many things I need to improve on myself, and rather than focusing on scores, I want to accumulate time to grow as an actress by addressing my shortcomings.” So, what does Kim Ye-rim think about the possibility of a Season 3 of ‘Cheongdam International High School’?
“Honestly, when we were filming Season 1, I didn’t know if there would be a Season 2. I can’t even imagine how to unfold a Season 3 if it were to happen. After all, everyone has graduated now. (Laughs) However, I think it’s a grateful and proud thing that questions about ‘Season 3’ are being asked. It feels rewarding.”
What will be Kim Ye-rim’s next step? She expressed her desire to challenge herself in unrealistic fantasy genres or science fiction genres that could not happen in reality, saying, “Since I’ve worn a lot of school uniforms until now, I want to take them off next time and show a slightly newer side of myself.”
“Every time I see reactions like ‘I didn’t know she was Yeri from Red Velvet,’ it makes me feel good. The phrase ‘I didn’t know she was that kind of person’ means that my new face has been discovered. I still have a lot to show. My biggest goal is to keep hearing the words, ‘Did Kim Ye-rim have this side too?’ I really want to hear it as long as I can.”
[Geum Bit-na, MK Sports Reporter]
