Kim Yeo-jin debuted as an actress in the 1995 stage play What Do Women Live For. She then expanded her career into films, making her big screen debut in the 1998 erotic drama movie Girls’ Night Out. Her performance in the film won her Best New Actress at the 19th Blue Dragon Film Awards and the 7th Chunsa Film Art Awards. In 1999, she starred alongside Sol Kyung-gu and Moon Sori in the movie Peppermint Candy, which earned her the Best Supporting Actress trophy at the 37th Grand Bell Awards. In 2002, she was once against named Best Supporting Actress at the 3rd Busan Film Critics Awards for the drama film Chi-hwa-seon. In 2011, she took home another Best Supporting Actress citation at the 20th Buil Film Awards for the crime thriller Children. Aside from films, she also had appearances in several hit television dramas such as MBC’s Dae Jang Geum in 2003, KBS2’s Moonlight Drawn by Clouds in 2016, and tvN’s Vincenzo in 2021.

Kim Yeo-jin married director Kim Ji-min in 2004. They met on the set of the MBC series Forever Love in 2003. In 2012, the couple welcomed their first child. The actress is known for actively engaging in protests concerning various social and political issues.