[INTERVIEW] Actor Jung Suk-won

Jung Suk-won [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

His physique and walk proved that he was in the Marine Corps and went to action school yet over time, he started to talk more and more like an excited boy until he ended up saying, "In a way, I'm kind of simple-minded and childish." This statement, made by Jung Suk-won, may be confusing for viewers who saw the solid image he gave off in SBS TV series "Doctor Champ" and heard the shameless remarks he said in KBS' "Ojakgyo Brothers." Yet he truly was closer to being a hot-blooded young man working hard at fulfilling his ambitions than an adult who is all grown up. And it was not because he is the type that started doing sports because he "just wanted to fight well" and went into action school because "it was amazing to see martial arts director Jung Doo-hong, who had signed an autograph for me, on TV." He is in the process of getting to know the fun to acting because he may have waved his hand at the experience of preparing for his role in movie "Secrets, Objects" (2011) and said, "It was so detailed that honestly, I thought I'd go crazy. Really," but he also admitted, "Analyzing scripts is tougher than doing sports. But this, it's fun."

Hence, him having become an actor after an unexpected incident in action school, was definitely by chance. That is why time may pass slowly for him these days -- he has just gotten to know that he needs to fix his walk and practice on his vocalization. But for Jung, who overcame situations in the Marine Corps which he "almost died from" to achieve his goal, it has also been a time where he has learned the fun to each and everything regarding acting. The young boy who wanted to become a cool martial arts director has now become a hard-working young man who has "nothing but acting" on his mind. So it may take a while longer for him to show his true colors. Yet his statement, "I have finally started to hear what other people are saying when I'm acting. I still don't know the mechanisms and skills regarding the camera but I'm going to try to learn bit by bit," is more than trustworthy.

My name is Jung Suk-won.
I was born onMay 16, 1985.
I've liked action movies. So I've always watched the ones with Jackie Chan, Jet Li, Donnie Yen and Jean-Claude Van Damme. It was so amazing to see people fighting after having watched "Flashman"!
I was so inattentive when I was young that my dad was going to send me to a mental hospital. And when I was in elementary school, he made me review and prep for school by reading my books for 30 minutes everyday at around six or seven in the morning. But my parents called me a mutation because I got stressed by it while my siblings did well. That's why when I told him I'd take up sports instead, he supported me by saying, "Okay, work hard at at least that then." [laughs]
I'm actually clumsy. I'm always spaced out, clumsy, and make lots of mistakes. I'm always spilling my food too. [laughs] I'm clumsy at everything outside of sports. But I think I've become very calm these days from looking at scripts by myself.
I lived in an apartment in Incheon before. And I like that when I sometimes go there, there's a pepper field next to it and kids who play soccer.
In the Marine Corps, I was an instructor which only martial arts experts in the special forces team can take on. I taught sports and sometimes even came up with moves. I think I like stepping forward to do things. [laughs] From fifth to twelfth grade, I was always in charge of my class' recreational activities and for our festival in high school, I got my friends together to present sort of a theatrical performance. I had the smart kid write the script and I was both the main character and martial arts director.
After I left Seoul Action School, I ran into its chief. And he was at the Marine Corps as well but didn't get into the special forces team although he had wanted to. So he didn't believe me at first when I was there.
I love things like twists. There was a twist regarding my character Kim Jae-ha in "Ojakgyo Brothers" as well. I thought, wow, this might be good!, after hearing about it.
I studied so little that I didn't know what analysis was. When I got a script, I just read it. And that's why I got scolded a lot. [laughs] It was hard trying to analyze something when I hadn't done it before. I think it's even harder than doing several hundreds of bench presses. I really regret not having studied more.
I like taking photos in bizarre ways. Normal photos... I don't really take. [laughs] I've taken bizarre photos since I was young because they're just fun. Even when I was discharged from the military, I took one normal photo while wearing my beret and the rest were bizarre ones. [laughs]
I used to smoke and drink in middle school but haven't since then. Back then, I couldn't make friends without not smoking. People became friends by asking, 'Do you have a lighter?' or 'Do you have a cigarette?' But we decided to quit together because I got scolded a lot by my master. And I drank a lot in middle school but my face would turn red after a single drink. So I used sports as my excuse to not drink from then on because I was so embarrassed by that. [laughs]
Jung Ji-hoon (Rain)is a very great guys who is also very loyal. He takes really good care of me after working on movie "Soar Into the Sun" together. He even came to the VIP premiere for my movie "The Beast" which he had originally said he might not be able to come to because of a photo shoot for a magazine. People around us say we look similar and even Jung himself joked around that we're brothers without double eyelids. Ah, (Shin) Se-gyeong is a very loyal person as well.

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10 아시아 Reporter : Han Yeo-Wool sixteen@
10 아시아 Photographer : Lee Jin-hyuk eleven@
10 아시아 Editor : Lee Ji-Hye seven@
10 아시아 Editor : Jessica Kim jesskim@