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Im Si-wan Biography: Age, Career, Family and More

F4U Editorial Desk • Updated September 29, 2026 • 6 min read

Quick Info

Date of birth1 December 1988

Age34 Years

BirthplaceBusan, South Korea

ProfessionSinger, Actor

NationalitySouth Korean

Marital statusUnmarried

FamilyHas an older sister.

Im Si-wan Biography

Im Si-wan is a South Korean singer and actor from Busan, best known as a member of the boy band ZE:A and for acclaimed performances in film and television,

Early life and background

Im Si-wan was born on 1 December 1988 in Busan, South Korea. Registered at birth under the name Yim Woong-jae, he later changed his name to Yim Si-wan before debuting as a performer. He attended Gudeok High School in Busan and enrolled in mechanical engineering at Busan National University, but left during his second year after his success in a college song festival that led to his discovery by an entertainment agency.

Im has an older sister. He grew up in Busan and maintains that hometown connection; running and participation in marathons is a recurring pastime for him and he has earned multiple medals in marathon events.

Career

Im entered the entertainment industry as a trainee with Star Empire after winning the Chin Chin Song Festival at his college. He trained with a group that would become the K-pop boy band ZE:A and made his debut as one of the group’s vocalists on 7 January 2010 when ZE:A released the album Nativity.

While active with ZE:A and its subunit ZE:A Five, Im expanded into acting. Small television appearances date back to 2010, and he gradually built a film and TV résumé that includes theatrical, web, and stage work. He performed the lead role of Joseph in the musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Seoul in 2013.

Im’s breakthrough in film came the same year with a major role in the courtroom drama The Attorney, in which he played a young student activist. The performance brought him widespread recognition and a string of awards acknowledging his emergence as a serious actor. He followed that success with notable television roles: he played the former baduk player Jang Geu-rae in the 2014 workplace drama Misaeng: Incomplete Life, a role that helped the series become a major hit, and he appeared in the 2014 series Triangle as the youngest sibling in a chaebol family.

Across the late 2010s and early 2020s Im continued to balance film and television. His film work includes the crime caper One Line (2017) and the crime action film The Merciless (2017), the latter of which led to an invitation to the Cannes Film Festival. He was cast in Emergency Declaration (2021), a disaster action thriller that screened at Cannes in 2021. Television credits from recent years include Hell Is Other People (2019), Tracer (2022), Summer Strike (2022), and Missing: The Other Side (2023). In 2023 it was announced that he would appear in the second season of the Netflix series Squid Game.

In addition to acting, Im has contributed songs to original soundtracks. His recordings include a song featured in Misaeng: Incomplete Life (2014) and later OST contributions for The King in Love (2017), Run On (2021), and Tracer (2022).

Public profile

Im has been recognized both for his on-screen achievements and as a public ambassador. He has been named an honorary ambassador for several organizations and events, served as a brand ambassador for commercial groups, and has been assigned PR duties for events such as the 2024 World Team Table Tennis Championships in Busan.

His performances have attracted numerous industry honours. Among the awards listed for Im are multiple newcomer and acting awards tied to The Attorney and Misaeng, popularity and rising-star recognitions, and Best Supporting Actor awards in 2022 for Emergency Declaration. He was also included on a Korean power celebrity list by Forbes in 2015.

Im served his mandatory military service beginning 11 July 2017 and was selected as an assistant instructor for new recruits during his term; he was discharged on 27 March 2019.

Philanthropy and personal notes

Im has made several public donations to disaster and humanitarian causes: contributions to relief efforts for Ukraine in March 2022, to flood relief in South Korea in August 2022, and to earthquake relief for Turkey and Syria in February 2023. Earlier, in 2019, he donated his military service earnings and additional personal funds to an elementary school in Gyeonggi Province.

Personal details that have been shared publicly include his MBTI type (ENFJ), a preference for occasional alcohol consumption paired with beef, and hobbies such as cooking. On matters of relationships he has described limited dating experience, referencing family influence during his youth.

Latest updates

Recent career highlights include the 2021 Cannes-screened Emergency Declaration and television roles through 2023, along with the announcement of his casting in Squid Game season two. He remained active in variety programming, having appeared on shows such as Birth of a Family (2012) and, later, House on Wheels (season 2 in 2021). In fashion and media, Im appeared on the cover of Cosmopolitan in 2020.

Im’s trajectory from idol vocalist to award-winning actor and public figure has been marked by steady work in both music and screen projects, continued public engagement, and charitable giving.
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Recent Work

Missing: The Other Side

Television series appearance (2023)

2023
Emergency Declaration

Disaster action thriller film showcased at Cannes (2021)

2021
Misaeng: Incomplete Life

Webtoon-based television series in which he played Jang Geu-rae (2014)

2014
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Career Highlights

  1. Debuted as a vocalist with K-pop group ZE:A in 2010
  2. Breakthrough film role in The Attorney (2013)
  3. Acclaimed lead in Misaeng: Incomplete Life (2014)
  4. Invited to Cannes Film Festival for The Merciless (2017)
  5. Best Supporting Actor awards for Emergency Declaration (2022)
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Frequently Asked Questions

When was Im Si-wan born?

1 December 1988

What is Im Si-wan known for?

Singer, Actor

What is Im Si-wan’s marital status?

Unmarried