Kim Hieora opens up about her rise, The Glory, and life behind the scenes.
On a recent episode of Channel A’s Best Friend Documentary: Table for 4, South Korean actress Kim Hieora sat down with fellow stars Kim Ji Woo and Aiki for a candid conversation about her rocky path to stardom and the behind-the-scenes moments that shaped her breakout role in Netflix’s The Glory.
Best known to international audiences for her chilling portrayal of Lee Sa Ra in the hit series, Kim revealed that her road to success was anything but smooth. “I failed so many auditions that I started thinking maybe acting wasn’t for me,” she said. “At one point, I tried selling clothes. My friend and I would busk while selling diffusers on the street. People used to joke, ‘You’d sell anything if you had to.’ I even ended up selling the clothes I was wearing when someone asked if they were for sale.”
That unconventional hustle taught her something valuable. “I realized I could take the same approach into auditions, win people over like I did with customers,” Kim Hieora shared. “Once my mindset shifted, my results did too.”
She eventually made her drama debut in Beyond Evil and recalled trying to fully embody a corpse-like appearance for one of her early scenes. “I was really focusing on how to look dead,” she laughed. “While filming, the cinematographer looked at me and said, ‘There’s something in your eyes. We’ll be seeing a lot more of you.’ That moment stayed with me.”
Kim Hieora revealed she initially auditioned for a minor role in The Glory, but the casting team kept redirecting her to read for Lee Sa Ra. “They seemed genuinely interested in me,” she said. “Someone even looked into my eyes and said, ‘There’s something extraordinary about your eyes.'”
She described the pre-production read-throughs as surprisingly collaborative, mainly due to the lead actress, Song Hye-kyo. “During our first table read, Song Hye Kyo said, ‘I want to give this everything. This is your drama as much as mine. If you shine, I shine. So don’t hold back,'” Kim Hieora recalled. “It was incredibly generous of her. We all looked at each other and said, ‘Now that’s someone who earned her place at the top.'”
Kim Hieora also praised co-star Lim Ji Yeon’s vulnerability and dedication. “She told me in an elevator, ‘If we don’t get this right, I’m done for. I’m counting on all of you,'” Kim Hieora said. “I expected some ego from a cast like this, but everyone was humble and completely committed. That motivated me to work even harder.”
The set was complete with friendly competition and shared passion, she said. “People started arriving earlier and earlier to prepare. The energy was intense,” Kim Hieora noted. “Our director even treated us as our characters off-camera to help us stay immersed. It made a huge difference.”
Kim Hieora also shared a funny moment when her deep immersion in character nearly led to an awkward misunderstanding. “After one shoot, we went out to eat, but I was still in character. I kept pressing the call button for service. When the owner finally came, I snapped, ‘I asked for lettuce,’ in a cold tone, completely unintentionally,” she laughed. “My manager looked at me and said, ‘Stop it, your eyes look scary!’ That’s when I realized I needed to come back to reality. I apologized right away.”
On a more serious note, Kim Hieora addressed the school bullying allegations that emerged in 2023. In April 2024, her agency confirmed that she had met with the individuals who brought forth the claims. “Kim Hieora and our agency met with the parties involved to revisit the past and foster mutual understanding,” the statement read. “All sides agreed to move forward with support and respect for one another.”
