Korean Olympic shooter lands first acting role as murderer

SEOUL, South Korea — South Korean pistol shooter Kim Ye-ji, whose skill and nonchalance at the Paris Olympics took the internet by storm, has landed her first acting role – as an assassin.

The 32-year-old won silver in the women's 10-meter air pistol shooting in July and her extremely calm demeanor, combined with her wire-framed shooting glasses and baseball cap, made her a worldwide online sensation.

When videos of her shooting went viral, she earned praise from celebrities like Elon Musk.

“She should be in an action movie. No acting required!” Musk wrote on his social media platform X at the time.

Now she will play a contract killer in “Crush,” a spin-off short series of the global film project “Asia,” a spokesman for Seoul-based entertainment company Asia Lab told Agence France-Presse on Friday.

Kim will star alongside Indian actress and influencer Anushka Sen, the company said in a separate statement, expressing excitement about “experiencing the potential synergy that will emerge from Kim Ye-ji and Anushka Sen's new transformation into a killer duo.”

Since winning the silver medal, a short clip showing Kim at the World Cup in Baku in May has gone viral, spawning fan art, countless memes and numerous edits that have pigeonholed the clip as K-pop.

In August, Kim signed a contract with a South Korean talent agency to help her manage her extracurricular activities. Since then, she has also appeared in a photo shoot for a Louis Vuitton magazine.