The tight junction outlines the apicolateral border of epithelial cells like a belt, sealing the paracellular space when cells form contacts with each other. The permeability and morphology of tight junction are regulated by actomyosin contractility, which has been conventionally thought from the purse-string-like circumferential actomyosin belt along tight junction. Spatially, the tight junction is close to the apical actin network, which exerts inward contractions orthogonal to the tight junction. To test the contributions from apical actin network, we laser-ablated spots on the apical surface of polarized Madin-Darby Canine Kidney (MDCK) epithelial cells. Laser ablation severed the apical cytoskeleton network, decreased in-plane tension, increased the apical surface area, and rendered the tight junction less tortuous in shape. Consistent with these observations, changes in MDCK cell sheet morphology due to cell proliferation, or perturbation with the ROCK inhibitor Y27632 increased the density of the apical actin network and decreased tight junction tortuosity. The morphological analysis revealed scutoids in flat MDCK cell sheets, contrary to predictions from a previous model that only considered cell-cell interactions as line tension. Additional cell-cell interactions from apical in-plane tension provides probable cause for the occurrence of scutoids on flat geometry. Taken together, our findings identify the importance of the apical actin network exerting in-plane apical tension to regulate tight-junction mechanobiology and epithelial cell shape.