Actress Shim Eun-kyung on Nov. 17 gives a speech after receiving the award for Best New Actress at the Tama Cinema Forum in Tokyo. (Management AND)

By Lee Kyoung Mi and Kim Hwaya

Actress Shim Eun-kyung is the one of the hottest figures in the Japanese film industry thanks to a string of highly acclaimed performances that landed her awards.

Named Best Actress for her role in the Japanese film "The Journalist" and Best New Actress for "Blue Hour," she has received since late last year consecutive awards from Japanese film festivals.

On Jan. 22, Shim earned her fourth honor from a Japanese film festival after the 74th Mainichi Film Awards named her Best Actress.

This was in addition to her Best New Actress prize on Nov. 17 last year from the 29th Tama Cinema Forum Awards for "The Journalist" and her Best Actress award on Jan. 15 this year at the 43rd Japan Academy Film Prize.

Also on Jan. 15, Shim was named Best Actress at the 34th Takasaki Film Festival for "Blue Hour."

The Takasaki organizing committee festival, which values the artistic quality of a film, said about her award, "She played an important character who led the story with confident expressions," adding, "Her abundance of expressions won high praise."

km137426@korea.kr