The following interview is a translated piece from the Japanese magazine Hot Chili Pepper. In this interview, he speaks frankly about his acting career. He talks about how his mom raised him – and paints a remarkable portrait of her character – and about two films that I love and am sorry he’s so disappointed with.


Q: Let us start with the drama The Reign of Women (여인천하;) that you starred in during your childhood years? (Note: “The Reign of Women” is also known as “Ladies of the Palace”)

A: At that time I was 15 years old, but I was still a child actor at that time, I don’t think I can introduce myself with the particular work. I started becoming a model when I was around 6 years old and I debuted as a child actor when I appeared on television in the 1997 drama Happiness for Sale.

Q: Do you still remember the scenes during the filming?

A: In The Reign of Women, whether it was the day I wore hanbok during filming on a snowy day or the time I fell down in the village… I remember all of them, my memory is very good. I still remember, there was a scene where the young Nan Jung was carrying a jar, and I was supposed to throw a stone at the jar to break it, but because I missed, it hit the kid’s face instead.

Q: Were you afraid of the adults at the filming site?

A: Yes I was afraid of them (laughs). I cried a lot of times at the filming site. The filming site is also a part of the community, although the adults around me say that I’m cute, and treat me very kindly. On the other hand, I am a child actor – as an actor, there are certain things one cannot do. But when I was young I didn’t know that, I just played happily with the older boys because I was so excited about the props at the filming site. So when the adults scolded me, ‘How can you not read your sсript yet?’, I cried a lot of times. Since acting in Happiness for Sale, I always travel to the filming site by myself. Taking the bus and subway… my parents has never accompanied me to the filming sites, not even once.

Q: Only by yourself?

A: A child actor does not have a manager (laughs). Besides that, my mother is the type who won’t accompany me to filming sites, I’m grateful to her when she did that. Hating to ask the staff at the filming site, “Please take care of my son.”, my mother wanted me to become strong, so that no matter what problems I face, I would not just cry away only…. Of course, I did cry at the time, now I can withstand all sorts of challenges.

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@темы: INTERVIEW