Kim Ji-young made her acting debut in 1993 through a play. She then expanded her career to the screen, first gaining attention in 1996 with her performance in MBC’s Country Diaries. In 1997, she appeared in the mega hit MBC melodrama You and I, which won her Best New Actress at the MBC Drama Awards at the 34th Baeksang Arts Awards. In 2006, she took home an Excellence Award at the SBS Drama Awards for My Lovely Fool. In 2008, she joined the sports drama film Forever the Moment, which earned her multiple Best Supporting Actress trophies. In 2009, she starred in the SBS daily series Two Wives. In 2010, she received an Excellence Award at the KBS Drama Awards for Marry Me, Please. She raked in more acting trophies for her work in the family dramas Everybody Say Kimchi in 2014 and The Love Is Coming in 2016.

Kim Ji-young married actor Nam Sung-jin in 2004. They have a son together.