Actor Kim Jeong-tae, 40, enjoys great popularity these days after his recent appearance on the popular KBS entertainment show “1 Night and 2 Days.”

He took part in the special episode featuring supporting movie actors. After “1 Night and 2 Days” aired, Kim was praised by viewers as “the best presence ever” due to his unique, witty lines.

His work began to receive attention, giving him an opportunity to break out of supporting roles.

The vicious, greedy Hirayama character, which he plays in the MBC drama “Miss Ripley,” has been tremendously popular to the extent that viewers have demanded that the show give his character more screen time.

Having debuted in 1999 with the movie “The Uprising,” Kim has built a bad guy image through several gang movies such as “Friend” (2001) and “Insadong Scandal” (2009), but he recently started to show his comical side.

Despite his bad guy image, he’s known as the source of laughter in filming scenes and he definitely showed all at the “1 Night and 2 Days.” Now his comical side has earned him a main role in the cable channel TvN’s short drama series “Hongdae Jeong-tae,” derived from his name.

Kim portrays a man who dreams of becoming a famous singer one day, but works at a small bar in the Hongik University area in northern Seoul. His superb acting and a sense of humor combined makes his role distinguished from other witty characters.

Kim’s talent is not confined to acting. He runs the online shopping mall “Kim Jeong-tae boutique,” which specializes in casual clothes, some of them his own design. His sense of humor definitely stands out here too, given his humorous poses modeling the clothes.

He is expected to appear on the KBS talk show “Being on a Fast Track” (Seung Seung Jangu in Korean) and tell his personal story, which hasn’t yet been told on TV.

By Lee Woo-young (wylee@heraldcorp.com)