[INTERVIEW] Actor Kim Hyun-woo

Interview with actor and singer Kim Hyun-woo

My name is Kim Hyun-woo. Now, I just go by Hyun-woo.
I was born on January 18, 1985. For my birthday this year, my fans surprised me by bringing a cake on set. This is the first time something like this has happened to me.
I have an older sister who is nine years older than me. She's married and has two children who are three and five-years-old. The two see me as the pushover uncle. They're always taking my money, toys, my keroro figure and stickers I collected from eating bread.
When I was younger, I use to have an old lady's perm. I had hated the perm back then because it was similar to my mom's and my grandmother's. Then upon going into shoot for "Pasta," my stylists decided to test out the old pop-star hairstyle which is long and curly. They kept cutting my hair shorter and shorter, ending up in my creating my current style which I like.
I wore my school uniform for my interview at the Seoul Institute of the Arts. I figured that my uniform would be better than any other attire. The professor who interviewed me asked, "Why are you wearing your school uniform?" to which I answered, "I don't have any money". And I acted as if I had all the confidence in the world, making my interview last eight minutes long compared to others' interviews which took three minutes maximum. Thankfully, I got accepted but I'm currently on a leave from school.
My fellow actor, No Min-woo who plays the role of Philip, and I have appeared in several other projects together including the film "A Frozen Flower" and MBC TV series "Tae Hae Ji". So others might have thought we auditioned together for the role of chefs from Italy, but I hadn't even know he had tried out. So when we had the first meeting for "Pasta," Min-woo called me in the parking lot and I thought to myself, "No...it couldn't be".
For "Flower" I played one of the members in the army. I couldn't believe that there were so many handsome actors around my age. We were all dressed the same for the movie so my parents didn't know which scenes I appeared in but I know that I saw my face in about four to five scenes. Some actors' faces didn't get shown even once although we filmed for nearly a year.
I learned how to make pasta because of the show and I make pasta at home too now. I think among the actors who play the chefs from Italy, I cook the best pasta. But for some reason, when I try to make it on set it tastes...
Before I learned how to make pasta, I only ate food my mother cooked. And when my mom wasn't home, I would cook for myself making mix rice out of tuna, butter, garlic and vegetables. I would also throw in whichever other ingredient I felt like adding but I hadn't tried cooking any other dishes.
When we first shot "Pasta," the director prepared a tasselled clown hat for my character to wear. I was told to wear it all the time, including when I was cooking and when I was outside, but the hat was so extravagant that my face didn't show well. It seemed that the producer didn't like how the hat looked on me either after running a few rounds of test shots and told me to prepare some other prop. That's how I got to wear the hats that I wear on the show now.
Many people tell me I look like actor Lee Jun-ki. I also heard that we have similar images people end up telling me that we're actually quite different after having talked with me. I saw Lee in person at an audition once during my high school days but I didn't see the resemblance.
While filming for SBS' drama "Dream" I developed so much muscle that my clothes wouldn't fit. I once bent down to tie my shoelace when I heard a ripping noise and the next thing I know, my jacket had ripped. Clothes are meant to make a person look good but I used to look like an old guy whatever I wore back then. I do aerobic routines now while working out and don't get much sleep because of the drama, which has helped me lose about eight kilograms compared to then.
When I get hungry on set, my senior actor Cho Sang-gi cooks pasta for me often. Since the title of the drama is "Pasta," there is always a lot of noodle on set but I don't eat it because it may be spoiled from being under the bright lighting.
I lost my wallet a couple of times last year. It fell out of my pocket once while I was riding a scooter I had bought after collecting money my friends had borrowed from me. I even lost my wallet twice in one month. I think the total amount of money I lost probably adds up to about 1.2 million won which is the biggest financial loss I have experienced during my life.

Reporter : Wee Geun-woo eight@10asia.co.kr
Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@10asia.co.kr
Editor : Lucia Hong luciahong@asiae.co.kr