With his strong jawline, sparkling eyes, and imposing appearance, actor Jeong Mansik’s first impression is overwhelming. Due to his strong image that daunts the opponent, Jeong used to play detectives, gangsters, and villains in films and TV series. In short, it is a kind of ‘image casting.’ The term ‘image casting’ usually means ‘casting an actor that matches the appearance of a character,’ but it is a great strength that the first impressions of a character and an actor fit perfectly. Without having to explain the character in detail, the mere appearance of the actor vividly brings the character to life.

When Jeong Mansik appeared in Breathless (2009), directed by Yang Ikjune, who became an icon of the Korean independent film industry, rumors spread among the audience. They said the moneylender in the film, who stubbornly wears a fancy T-shirt and swears harshly all the time, couldn’t be a real actor but a guy who did it for a living. This kind of medal-like heroic episode belongs to actors who are good at acting in the Korean film industry. Is there a better compliment for an actor than the remark ‘You’ve totally got me’? Jeong Mansik receives that kind of compliment a lot. However, he’s not the actor who stays in an image where the audience ‘looks as it is revealed.’

He is a ‘stage person.’ Even before appearing in films and TV series, Jeong already showed his presence on the theatrical stage. After winning the Best Actor at the Seoul Theater Festival in 2004, his next stage naturally led to films and TV series. He appeared in short films from 2001, and his filmography has been filled with more than 40 feature films and 25 TV series for 20 years since he appeared in his first commercial film She’s On Duty in 2005. Almost every actor who participates in the ‘Korean Actors 200’ campaign has met him in films and TV series, sometimes as a fearful enemy and sometimes a reliable friend. In the meantime, the public and film directors have realized how colorful spectrums Jeong Mansik’s first impression can have.

Director Ryu Seungwan’s The Unjust melts Jeong Mansik’s strong impression into an ordinary citizen character. With a tiger-like face, he becomes a gentle sheep in front of the arrogant and bossy young prosecutor who seeks power. The toughness of life meets Jeong Mansik’s strong image, and it amplifies irony. However, the character in Director Kim Sungsoo’s Asura: The City of Madness (2016) seems to be in the same vein but totally different. Again, Jeong’s role was a prosecution investigation officer, but the character was very violent and villainous. With big eyes, Jeong speaks softly smiling, but he gives you a more terrifying sense of fear than meeting a tiger in the mountains. In The Tiger (2015), where he collaborated with Choi Minsik, Jeong Mansik played a tiger hunter and exuded a more coercive presence than a tiger. The irony of killing or being killed is revealed by Jeong Mansik’s blazing eyes. As he has done for the past 20 years, his silent roar will resonate in Korean films. Park Hyeeun

 

“A person’s true heart is like a lunar eclipse. You can hide it for a while, but it will come out in the end.” Yoon Kyungho’s line in Intimate Strangers (2018) sounds like a prophecy for his tomorrow and the message that runs through the film. Everyone has a secret, and modern people save their secrets on their cell phones. What if the phone unlocks? Thanks to its realistic and sympathetic setting, Intimate Strangers attracted 5.3 million viewers, becoming the best ‘Sleeper hit’ movie in 2018.

With the interesting theme, top stars such as Yoo Haejin, Lee Seojin, and Yum Jungah also appeared in the film. But after watching the movie, we have no choice but to agree that it is Yoon Kyungho’s movie. The Golden Shoot Award, selected by Korean film directors, also gave Yoon Kyungho the Best Supporting Actor. It was the first acting award he ever won. Some actors are more familiar with their faces than their names. That kind of intimacy only comes from the actors who are willing to appear in all the films that need him for a long time just like Yoon Kyungho, who has played minor roles and supporting roles in plays, movies, and TV series for 20 years. Like the lines in Intimate Strangers, great actors are like a lunar eclipse. They may be hidden behind the spotlight for some time, but they will be revealed in the end just like Yoon Kyungho.

As if looking for hidden pictures, if we watch his previous films again, we can notice that they are filled with the best scenes. In the TV series Guardian: The Lonely and Great God (2016), Yoon touched the hearts of viewers with his role as ‘the man who saved the country in his previous life.’ The man who has gained today’s fortune thanks to his good deeds in his past life shows a knowing look on his face very briefly. The actor’s attitude of telling a long story in a short moment was already famous among film directors. Director Bong Joonho also cast him as the employee of the Mirando Corporation in Okja, giving him a story of a victimized villain. Since Yoon Kyungho was not a picky actor from the beginning, more and more TV series and films called for him often. As a result, the number of his leading films has also increased. He also starred in Itaewon Class, one of the most popular TV series in 2020, and in HONEST CANDIDATE, the political satirical comedy that made box office hit in the Coronavirus pandemic situation.

But he doesn’t seem inclined to dwell on the weight of characters. How long he appears in a movie doesn’t matter to him now. The scenes of the popular TV series VINCENZO, in which he appeared as a guest star, are considered the best comic scenes. In The Book of Fish, directed by Lee Joonik, who won the 2021 Baeksang Arts Grand Prix, Yoon made a special appearance as Moon Soondeuk, a real person in history. Moon Soondeuk is a guy who experienced a wide range of Asia after the shipwreck during the Joseon Dynasty. The audience even asks the director to make Moon Soondeuk’s adventure into a movie as a sequel of The Book of Fish. Yoon is filming the sequel of HONEST CANDIDATE as the leading role now. Actor Yoon Kyungho, who has silently made his way, is finally in his element now. Park Hyeeun

Some people happen to be actors while dreaming of becoming directors or vice versa. Lee Junhyuk also became interested in acting while directing a short film, dreaming of becoming a director. He made his debut in the entertainment industry by appearing in music videos and mainly built his career through dramas. He appeared in weekend TV series favored by middle-aged people, and since his debut, he has consistently appeared in TV and films without any gaps, strengthening his acting skills. His debut film is the comedy Fortune Salon (2009). He played Hojoon, a man who goes through all kinds of accidents intertwined with the heroine, a beautiful fortuneteller. Although Lee looks like a prince on a white horse, he shows a twist with a personality contrary to his charming image.

Except for his special appearance, after Fortune Salon, Lee Junhyuk returned to the cinema world in 8 years and drew attention by playing the only villain in the Along with the Gods series. In the films, Lee Junhyuk played Park Mooshin, an orphan who graduated from the Korea Military Academy and rose to the rank of first lieutenant. The character becomes a villain in the face of a crisis and makes the worst choice on his own. Since the story is mainly about the grim reapers and the dead, Lee’s character, Park Mooshin, had a small portion in the film but he showed his presence clearly. First Lieutenant Park commits a greater evil to cover up his crime that he made through a wrong judgment but asks for forgiveness at the last moment with a hint of guilt. Lee Junhyuk pulled off such a complicated performance successfully. With the first and second episodes of Along with the Gods series drawing 10 million viewers, Lee Junhyuk was clearly stamped on the movie fans’ minds.

In No Mercy (2018), Lee played a secretary who looks good in a suit but acts like a puppet of a gangster-like city councilman. In the seasonal TV series Stranger, he played an undignified and despicable prosecutor, who’s being heard, “Have you become a prosecutor by your handsome face?” In 60 Days, Designated Survivor (2019), he appeared as a handsome presidential candidate from a soldier holding secrets. As you see, most of the characters Lee Junhyuk has played tend to emphasize his handsome appearance first. So, when filming the independent film Baseball Girl (2019), the director of the film had to worry because he wasn’t sure if Lee Junhyuk, a superb good-looking actor, was suitable for the character Choi Jintae, the baseball coach with a good heart. However, as if the actor’s debut film was a revelation, Lee has mainly shown very different images from the charming prince on the white horse. Of course, it’s all thanks to the actor’s broad acting skills to freely pull off a loser, a mean character, a sneaky one, and a cruel, which subvert his good-looking. This is why we are already curious about how colorful characters Lee Junhyuk will play in the future, including his next film, Firefighter. Jung Sujin

It’s not a special compliment to call an actor handsome because many actors are equipped with above-average looks. Besides, beauty is quite subjective. However, Seo Kangjun is handsome enough to go beyond this standard of beauty. His features with fair skin, exotic brown eyes, and the realistic version of the character in romance comics are a powerful inducement that Seo captures public curiosity. However, specialized looks don’t notarize his potential as an actor. What’s important is to gain a unique personality and availability, not just appearance. Seo Kangjun is the case verified that very quickly.

Seo Kangjun started his career in the entertainment industry after being selected as a member of ‘Surprise,’ the first actor group that claimed ‘acting idols’ in Korea. And in 2013, the actor officially made his debut with the web drama After School: Lucky or Not. He was expected to follow the steps handsome actors would take, but Seo reversed this public prejudice in a good way through the one-act drama Haneuljae Murder Case (2013), where he starred only three months after his debut. Seo Kangjun heralded the birth of a new actor we should watch by playing the captivating character who falls in forbidden love with Moon Sori, Korea’s leading actor and his senior actor.

Since then, he has sped up his walking. Seo Kangjun won the Best New Actor at the 2014 Korea Drama Awards for his performance in Cunning Single Lady (2014). The following year, he won the Hot Star Award for Hwajung, getting on the track of a general trend. He also was cast as the lead role in the Korean version of the popular American HBO drama Entourage (2016), drawing keen attention from the industry. From the historical drama Hwajung, the SF Are You Human Too? (2018), the thriller WATCHER (2019), to the romance When the Weather is Fine (2020), one of his strengths is his wide range of genre absorption. Especially in Are You Human Too?, he showed various charms by playing a double role, freely moving between a cold and cynical guy and a righteous and warm-hearted robot.

Having conquered the variety show world through Roommate (2015), Seo Kangjun also released single albums overseas, including in Japan, while working as a member of the group ‘Surprise.’ In the variety shows, he shows unexpected and innocent charms, but on stage, he becomes a romantic guy close to perfection. In many ways, he is an all-round multi-player that has twisted charms. His next film is the SF-tracking thriller Zero. As it will be released through Disney Plus Channel, Seo Kangjun will meet foreign fans naturally. His next film is also waiting for its release. Through Director Kwak Jaeyong’s film Happy New Year, Seo will expand his acting spectrum further. Jung Siwoo

Kim Sungkyun shook the film industry as soon as he made his debut. In the crime film Nameless Gangster: Rules of the Time (2012), set in Busan in the 1980s, Kim Sungkyun first appeared as the right arm of the gang boss, catching the audience’s eye with his long hair, speaking and swearing in Gyeongsang-do dialect. The despicable acts of throwing a beer bottle right onto the back of Don Lee’s head, pushing Choi Minsik into a hole, and intimidating him were just like a gangster’s behavior. His performance was so vivid that even film officials and actors who saw Kim Sungkyun’s performance joked, “I thought the director cast a real gangster!” Just like the famous line in the film, his performance was ‘awesome and vivid!’

In the webtoon-based thriller The Neighbors, which was released in the same year, Kim played a villain again, a serial killer living in an old mansion. A brutal killer making a servile face in front of a gang member while arguing over parking or being frightened while looking at a young schoolgirl he killed was certainly fresh and unusual. It was a very rare case for an actor in his 30s to become a star with his debut film and to sweep as many as six Best New Actor awards, including major film awards and critics, only with two films in the same year. The following year, in 2013, six films were released, including the action-thriller The Suspect and Hwayi: A Monster Boy, where he played a psychopathic criminal, heralding Kim Sungkyun’s heyday.

The retro TV drama Reply series opened another heyday for Kim Sungkyun, who was previously called an actor specialized for a villain character. In Reply 1994 (2013), he played Sam Cheonpo, a college freshman from the province, and was loved by the public for his comic acting as well as romance. In Reply 1988 (2015), he appeared as a father who enjoyed lame jokes and was cheered by the fans of the Reply series. In addition, he appeared in the fantasy historical drama Moon Lovers: Scarlet Heart Ryeo (2016), the thriller Untouchable (2017), and The Fiery Priest (2019), which won him the Best Actor in the Mid-Length Drama in SBS Drama Awards, proving that he has excellent acting skills and an eye for choosing TV dramas.

His endless efforts to find various roles not to remain in one fixed image are a big driving force that made Kim Sungkyun now. Crisscrossing times and genres, he has achieved considerable scores with his fascinating acting skills through the works he appeared in such as We Are Brother, where he met his brother he lost when young; The Deal, where he played a husband who tries to avenge his wife’s death, who was killed by a serial killer; The Preparation, where he played a father with a son mentally-challenged; FENGSHUI, where he played a son from a powerful family, who is obsessed with power. Kim Sungkyun is expected to play full-time in 2021. From Hansan: Rise of the Dragon, Samdo Investigation Headquarters, Sinkhole, Seoul Operation (working title), TV series D.P, Moving, to Zero, Kim Sungkyun’s colorful activities are expected more than ever. As he has done so far, Kim will reply to those expectations after finishing all preparations. Jung Yumi

Every country has its version of Robert De Niro, a so-called ‘method actor’ that everyone praises. Method actors, who live as the characters they play even when they are not in front of the camera, are sometimes praised and sometimes considered excessive. Set aside the argument about whether method acting is an old technique, the important thing is that there is no actor like Robert De Niro in Hollywood. In that sense, we can say there is no method actor like Kim Myungmin in Korean cinema now.

It was probably Gooseflesh (2001), one of the greatest horror films in Korean history, that made the Korean film world pay attention to Kim, who had long worked in the TV world. Kim Myungmin made a fascinating debut with the movie, playing a killer full of madness. Surprisingly, the actor had to go through a long period of obscurity even after his impressive debut. He re-emerged in a 2004 TV drama series Immortal Sun-Shin Lee, which featured the same character as the film Roaring Currents. In the drama, Kim played the role of Admiral Lee Sun-shin, the most acclaimed war hero in Korean history, as if the actor had traveled in time. Thanks to the series, Kim Myungmin became one of the most wanted main actors in Korean cinema again.

He is well known for trying to assimilate into a character as soon as he takes on one. The actor’s episode of losing 20kg to play a patient with Lou Gehrig’s disease in Closer to Heaven (2009) is well known. It was also said that in Man of Vendetta (2010),

Kim stayed up for three nights to play the character, who didn’t sleep for three nights. Thanks to these stories, Kim Myungmin tends to be considered the ‘god of acting’ (maybe more like a joke) by Korean movie fans.

Some people would like to say that Kim Myungmin is an actor of possibility who has yet to meet a work that would genuinely represent him. It would still be possible to call him a big star in the TV world than in the film world. His representative works are TV dramas rather than films. However, Kim’s superb performance between a serious method actor and a commercial star in blockbusters Deranged (2012) and Pandora (2016) can never be underestimated. It is a real pleasure for movie fans to predict which character he will play next. Kim Dohoon

Here’s a professional entertainer in a boy’s mask. Lee Junho is a reliable lead actor of films and dramas, a lead vocalist and main dancer of ‘2PM,’ a K-Pop group, and a musician who is going on an overseas tour with his solo album that he wrote and composed all by himself. Now, we can’t imagine Lee Junho anymore who does not act nor stand on stage. What has completed him now is his challenge, effort, and passion. That’s why blood, sweat, and tears suit him beautifully. He never looks tired. When he smiles brightly like an innocent boy, covered with blood, sweat, and tears on stage and acting, all the pain glows while melting. This boyish smile is Lee Junho’s powerful and twisted weapon.

Lee Junho debuted as a member of the singing group ‘2PM’ in 2008 and made his film debut through Cold Eyes (2013). Cold Eyes is an intellectual chase by the special police squad ‘Cold Eyes,’ which follows intelligent criminals who dream of a perfect crime. Among the stars, such as Sul Kyunggu, Han Hyojoo, and Jung Woosung, who played an intelligent villain, Lee Junho played ‘Squirrel,’ the ace and youngest detective of the surveillance team. Just like the nickname ‘Squirrel’ indicates, Lee Junho played the character with agile and whip-smart, flying around among the veteran stars. From the cheerful appearance to the grim walkout, his appearance was impressive every moment.

The film took Lee Junho to his next film, Memories of the Sword. Jeon Doyeon, who watched Lee Junho’s performance in Cold Eyes, strongly recommended him to director Park Heungsik as a guard warrior ‘Yul,’ saying, “I found an actor who is cool when he stays still and looks like a boy when he smiles.” Even among outstanding actors, the boldness to stay relaxed, eye-catching acting skills, and the spectacular action set by acrobatic dance are bonuses. Actor Lee Junho definitely stood out.

With this momentum, Lee was cast in Twenty, the first film he starred in. Twenty is Director Lee Byungheon’s first commercial film, who also directed Extreme Job, which recorded the unprecedented No. 1 in the box office hit, receiving public recognition for its differentiated sense of comedy. Along with Kang Haneul and Kim Woobin, Lee Junho showed the ‘smile and tears’ of young people who just turned 20. Lee Junho proved that he can pull off comedies and human dramas as well as action. Later, starting with Memory (2016), he expanded his acting range by starring in five TV series. The characters ranged from a tired youth who endured life with trauma, the best Chinese food chef in Korea, to a lawyer whose father is a death-row convict.

Among them, Good Manager (2017) should be pointed out in Lee Junho’s filmography. Seoyul, who is cold-blooded, is a villain but eats food more deliciously than anyone else. The director ordered Lee Junho to play the ‘unhateful villain,’ and Lee Junho responded to the director’s order with his acting of enjoying food, a symbol of ‘greed.’ Lee Junho won his first acting award that year for his ‘glutton + sociopath’ character.

As you see, Lee Junho is an actor who creates opportunities on his own. His debut was also achieved by winning the audition show ‘Superstar Survival’ with a competition ratio of 6,500:1. After the two-year hiatus due to his military service, Lee is receiving love calls from films and TV series. His goal as a singer and actor is one. ‘Let’s be trustworthy.’ He was, he is, and he will be ‘trustworthy’ enough. Park Hyejin

Jung Woo entered the film industry at the age of 20 and played minor roles and supporting roles for about 8 years. His main roles during the period were petty villains and gang members mostly in action and crime genres. Director Lee Sunghan, the actor met around that time, is significant in Jung Woo’s filmography because he directed Jung Woo’s first leading film Spare (2008) and Wish (2009), where the actor first made his mark. We could say Wish is Jung Woo’s autobiographical film based on his experiences in high school. Although it was a low-budget movie, it was a box office hit with more than 100,000 viewers at the time of its release, and since then, famous lines and scenes from the movie have been the talk of the town through YouTube. The film won him the Grand Bell Award for Best New Actor at the age of 30.

The crucial factor in his life is the TV series Reply 1994 (2013). In a drama set in the 1990s, he played the role of Jaejoon, a medical student whose nickname is ‘Sseureki (trash),’ and became very popular while creating a sensation, winning the New Actor on the TV division at the Baeksang Arts Awards. Through the role, the actor appealed to the audience with an ideal male figure who was tough, humorous, and friendly. He also won the Best New Actor at the KBS Drama Awards for his TV series You’re the Best, Lee Soonshin (2013), where he appeared the same year, proving that his time came finally.

After rising to stardom and starring, Jung Woo’s characters underwent drastic changes. If he was beloved by the public through rather rough and playful roles at the beginning, he later challenged more delicate and diverse roles. After appearing in the music film C’est Si Bon (2015), he challenged the mountain film The Himalayas (2015), controlling the emotional line of the movie by challenging both static and internal acting. In the courtroom drama film New Trial (2017), Jung played an energetic lawyer who was busy trying to clear the false accusation of his client, and in the film Best Friend (2021) set in the 1980s, he appeared as an intelligence agent, showing a serious yet comical nuanced acting.

What’s interesting is that his presence stands out in the films and TV series that stimulate nostalgia, such as C’est Si Bon set in the 1960s, Wish and Reply 1994 set in the 1990s. This result shows that Jung Woo’s friendly feeling shines more in this genre. Kim Hyungseok