Kim Ji-won’s Queen of Tears Character Makes Her 2013 Breakout Role Even Better

Summary Kim Ji-won's role in Queen of Tears marks a full-circle moment in her career, reminiscent of her breakout performance in The Heirs.

The similarities between Yoo Rachel in The Heirs and Hong Hae-in in Queen of Tears showcase Kim Ji-won's versatility as an actress.

Hong Hae-in is a mature version of Yoo Rachel, allowing Kim Ji-won to showcase her growth as an actress over the past decade.

Kim Ji-won has taken on many different roles throughout her career, but her most recent role in Queen of Tears is a stark callback to the role that made her famous. Queen of Tears' success catapulted Kim Ji-won to superstardom as she portrayed chaebol heiress Hong Hae-in. Kim Ji-won was commended for her detailed and intense performance as Hae-in navigates her rocky relationship with her husband, Baek Hyun-woo, in one of the most exciting K-dramas of 2024 so far.

Besides Queen of Tears, Kim Ji-won has a number of standout performances that showcase her range as an actor. Romantic comedy Fight For My Way saw her star alongside Park Seo-joon as the energetic and tenacious Choi Aera, while her role as First Lt. Yoon Myeong-ju is one of the reasons Descendants of the Sun is considered one of the best K-dramas of all time. However, when compared to her break-out role, Queen of Tears seems like a full-circle moment in Kim Ji-won's career, as both characters share a striking resemblance to each other.

Related Kim Soo-hyun’s Queen Of Tears Success Is A Reminder To Watch His Other Critically Acclaimed K-Drama Queen of Tears marked Kim Soo-hyun’s return to the small screen in a leading role and is a reminder to check his other critically acclaimed K-drama.

Kim Ji-won Played Teenage Heiress Yoo Rachel in The Heirs

Kim Ji-won's Performance in The Heirs is One of its Highlights

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The Heirs (also known as The Inheritors) is a 2013 high school K-drama that follows the lives of teenage heirs as they navigate relationships alongside the burdens that come with a privileged lifestyle. Here, Kim Ji-won plays the second female lead, Yoo Rachel, an heiress to a clothing company. Rachel is entitled, but desires love, with her actions often doing more harm than good in an excellent performance from the then-rookie actress Kim Ji-won.

The Heirs Cast Actor Character Lee Min-ho Kim Tan Park Shin-hye Cha Eun-sang Kim Woo-bin Choi Young-do Kim Ji-won Yoo Rachel Kang Min-hyuk Yoon Chan-young Krystal Jung Lee Bo-na Kang Ha-neul Lee Hyo-shin Park Hyung-sik Jo Myung-soo

Despite sharing the screen with many big names in the Korean entertainment industry, Kim Ji-won’s portrayal of the teenage heiress remains one of the most memorable parts of The Heirs. Just watching how Yoo Rachel flips her pink phone makes it obvious that Kim Ji-won was the right choice for the role. Though The Heirs’ storyline is far from groundbreaking, Kim Ji-won’s performance as Yoo Rachel was so good that many eager fans anticipated her return to a similar role for over a decade. Luckily, Kim Ji-won's addition to the Queen of Tears cast would end this wait ten years later.

The Heirs marks Kim Ji-won's first collaboration with writer Kim Eun-sook, who she would later go on to work with on Descendants of the Sun. This would coincidentally be the next significant turning point in Kim Ji-won's career, as Descendants of the Sun's success would lead her to land her first leading role in Fight For My Way the following year.

The Heirs (2013) In the elite corridors of a high school catering to Korea's richest 1%, the young heirs to conglomerates wrestle with expectations of rigid family legacies and their dreams. The story centers on a love triangle involving Kim Tan, a corporate heir who falls for Cha Eun-sang, the daughter of his family’s housekeeper, complicating the family dynamic even further. Cast Lee Min-ho , Park Shin-Hye , Kim Woo-bin , Kang Min-hyuk , Choi Jin-hyuk Release Date October 9, 2013 Seasons 1 Streaming Service(s) Amazon Freevee , Netflix

How The Heirs Compares to Queen of Tears

Hong Hae-in and Yoo Rachel are Very Similar Characters

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At first glance, Queen of Tears and The Heirs have many similarities. Both K-dramas deal with the lives of the extraordinarily rich, and the main romantic plot of each K-drama follows an uber-rich person falling in love with someone from a working-class background. There is always the undercurrent of business politics with Queen of Tears and The Heirs, alongside with K-drama love triangles that keep the romantic storylines on edge. However, the biggest similarity between the two K-dramas comes from Kim Ji-won’s characters of Hong Hae-in and Yoo Rachel.

Both characters are heiresses to their own companies and have cold, stubborn personalities that command a sense of power.

When considering the personalities and backgrounds of Hong Hae-in and Yoo Rachel, it’s hard not to see their similarities. Both characters are heiresses to their own companies and have cold, stubborn personalities that command a sense of power. Rachel is described as “The Paris Hilton of Jeguk High School,” while Hae-in’s similarly chic dress sense and sharp command is befitting of a royal. Rachel and Hae-in also both crave love from those around them, which is the driving force behind their actions. However, Hae-in and Rachel’s experiences are completely different in their respective dramas.

In The Heirs, Yoo Rachel is a supporting character that acts as The Heirs’ misunderstood K-drama antagonist. Rachel's quest for chaos is childish yet entertaining, but lacks dimension thanks to the clichéd genre. In comparison, Hong Hae-in is the focus of the romantic comedy Queen of Tears and, thanks to her more significant screen time, Kim Ji-won can flex more of her acting skills to flesh out Hong Hae-in’s character in Queen of Tears’ emotionally turbulent storyline.

Related One Major Change Would Have Helped Queen of Tears’ Finale To Stick The Landing Despite Queen of Tears’ record-breaking success, fixing one major issue in its final two episodes would have made its finale even more impactful.

Why Queen Of Tears' Hong Hae-in Is A Natural Follow Up To Kim Ji-won's Breakout Role

Hong Hae-in is a Mature Version of Yoo Rachel

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What makes Queen of Tears’ Hong Hae-in such a natural follow-up to The Heirs’ Yoo Rachel is their ages, and how that affects their actions. In The Heirs, Yoo Rachel is 17 years old, with Kim Ji-won herself being only 21 years old during the show’s original broadcast. Rachel deals with her issues by childishly lashing out and bullying others, particularly the female lead Cha Eun-sang (Park Shin-hye). She fiercely clings to her fiancée Kim Tan (Lee Min-ho), hoping that someday he will change his mind and give her the affection she has always longed for from her family.

Kim Ji-won’s return to a rich and emotionally immature character feels like a return to the beginning of her career.

On the other hand, Hong Hae-in is a woman in her thirties, much like Kim Ji-won when filming Queen of Tears. Though Hae-in is just as stubborn and emotionally immature as Rachel, life experience has evolved Hae-in, and in turn, Kim Ji-won’s acting abilities. In The Heirs, Rachel bordered the line of caricature, while Hae-in felt like a fully realized character whose innermost thoughts could easily be interpreted with just a glance. Though Hae-in’s actions can be petty, she deals with her darkest moments with fierce loyalty and maturing, which is evident through the development of Kim Ji-won’s acting skills since her breakout role ten years prior.

Kim Ji-won’s return to a rich and emotionally immature character feels like a return to the beginning of her career. Though this could be seen as a negative, it is anything but. Queen of Tears allows Kim Ji-won to show how far her acting has come, as Hong Hae-in’s character is given a much deeper portrayal. This in turn makes Kim Ji-won’s character in The Heirs seem even better, as fans can fondly look back at the role that acted as the foundation for Hong Hae-in, and the rest of Kim Ji-won’s incredible career.