A wave of short clips featuring 8-year-old Gi So Yoo is taking social media by storm after her brief but powerful appearance in the drama Dear X. Despite only playing the childhood version of the female lead in a flashback, Gi So Yoo instantly stole the spotlight with a performance that left viewers both stunned and emotionally moved.
Her portrayal of young Baek Ah Jin a girl deeply scarred by her family’s emotional neglect resonated profoundly with audiences. With just a single look, Gi So Yoo managed to convey despair, trauma, and a longing for warmth, leading netizens to describe her expression as “a gaze that makes you forget to breathe.”
Following her appearance at the end of episode 2, fan discussions exploded across online forums. In Dear X, the adult Baek Ah Jin (played by Kim Yoo Jung) is a closed-off character whose disturbing past is key to understanding her emotional struggles. Gi So Yoo’s intense performance helped solidify the character’s background, despite her limited screen time.
Many praised her masterful control over emotions, especially her ability to act with her eyes. From tear-filled stares to haunting emptiness, her gaze alone conveyed the full emotional weight of the scene an extraordinary feat for someone her age.
One viewer remarked, “If Kim Yoo Jung is the soul of the show, then Gi So Yoo is the heart. Her eyes make you ache.” Another wrote on social platform X, “She truly acted so well. Her resemblance to young Kim Yoo Jung round face, large sparkling eyes makes her even more likable. When the drama revealed Ah Jin’s past, you could instantly feel how broken her childhood was. With a father like that, how did this child even survive?”
Gi So Yoo’s emotional immersion was so strong that her mother took to Instagram to reassure fans, saying her daughter is “doing perfectly fine” and knows how to separate acting from reality. The post was flooded with thousands of thankful comments praising the mother for raising “a precious gem” of Korean cinema.
2025 has been a remarkably busy year for the young actress. Born in 2017, Gi So Yoo has built an astonishing portfolio that even seasoned actors would admire. According to AsianWiki, she has appeared in eight film and TV projects just in 2025, covering a wide range of genres from psychological dramas to romance and fantasy.
Besides Dear X, her 2025 works include:
- Would You Marry Me?
- Walking on Thin Ice
- To the Moon
- Confidence Queen
- Friendly Rivalry
- Love Scout
- Somebody
Previously, she also impressed in roles, whether supporting or cameo, in hit dramas like My Demon (SBS), The Good Bad Mother (JTBC), Vigilante (Disney+), See You in My 19th Life (tvN), Our Blues (tvN), and Hospital Playlist 2 (tvN). Despite minimal screen time, her natural acting and expressive eyes consistently earned praise.
Film enthusiasts have dubbed her a “mini Kim Da Mi,” noting similarities not just in appearance but in aura. Like Da Mi, Gi So Yoo exudes a haunting stillness before emotional eruptions, displaying subtle eye movements and instinctive vulnerability mixed with defiance.
Her presence evokes the eerie calm before the storm, much like Kim Da Mi in The Witch wide-eyed, intense, simultaneously innocent and unsettling. It’s not hard to imagine Gi So Yoo evolving into a “new Kim Da Mi,” a type of actress capable of delivering both fragility and ferocity in a single frame.
Sources: K14