Emmy Best Actor Lee Jung-jae's Career
Portraying Society by Following Rules Without Shortcuts... Showing Both Child and Adult Faces
Overcoming Complexes, Completing Master's Degree, and Entering Second Prime with Adult Roles in Youth
‘Squid Game’ features children's games. ‘Mugunghwa Flower Has Bloomed’, ‘Marble Game’... It is a process of surrounding the world and discovering it. It proceeds by confronting others based on rules. Children discover the world, imitate it, and make it their own. Adults are no different. They play as if acting and reenact society. At that moment, the game cannot be synonymous with pleasure or relaxation. It demands winners and losers, expanding into a matter of life.
Actor Lee Jung-jae portrays the protagonist Seong Gi-hun, showing both the faces of a child and an adult. In the rare return to the world of childhood innocence, he is bright and optimistic.
"(Marble game) I’m pretty good at it too. Ah, that’s a relief. Sir, no, Kkanbu (close friend). Let’s sweep all the marbles in this neighborhood."
Though his tone is excited, his posture is quite serious. When playing games, he immerses himself like a child.
Lee Jung-jae was childlike in the play world of television and screen. He learned how to follow rules and created another moment of life. He seemed to maintain the position of the winner every time. With the drama ‘Sandglass (1995)’ and the film ‘Young Man (1994)’, he swept newcomer awards at Baeksang, Grand Bell, and Blue Dragon Awards. He even won the youngest Best Actor award at the Blue Dragon Awards for the film ‘No Sun (1999)’, becoming a box office guarantee for a while.
His appearance alone was overflowing with charm. Large eyes and long eye corners gave a kind impression. His sharp nose bridge and jawline were perfect for conveying various emotions. However, he faced limitations in delivering long lines. There were also repeated criticisms that he was not mature enough to express the inner side of his roles.
Playing children often adapt the rules. Through transformation, they somewhat lighten the difficulties of life. Lee Jung-jae did not use shortcuts. Rather, he relearned the rules from the beginning. He entered Dongguk University’s Department of Theater and Film and completed a master’s degree in Performing Arts at graduate school. It was a kind of struggle to overcome the complex of not having learned acting systematically.
Despite his relentless efforts, his position continued to tilt toward the loser side. Since the 2008 film ‘1724 Gibang Riot Incident’, his works repeatedly failed at the box office. At one point, he was at risk of dropping out because a co-actor refused to work with him. His acting improved day by day, but he needed something to replace the image of a spent youth.
The only liberation in ‘Squid Game’ is achieved through the game. Amidst violence rampant with competition, he calculates, fights, and moves. He completes missions for the perpetrators who created them. Seong Gi-hun escapes from society in this way. Lee Jung-jae, trapped in the game called acting, followed the same process to overcome his slump. He first grasped the public’s interest that created him. He sharpened his senses in daily life by gaining inspiration from books, paintings, and films. He broadened the base of experience, knowledge, and information to elevate his expressiveness to the next level.
"You can’t be a youth star forever. I think it was a problem almost every actor faces when they start doing adult roles. It’s awkward to be cast in young roles, but also young to take on roles with strong lines... I struggled in that ambiguous position. Waiting endlessly for a train that never came, nothing really happened. At some point, I thought I should live diligently. I think I have been running steadily with that mindset."
Lee Jung-jae made a comeback with ‘The Housemaid (2010)’. With consecutive hits like ‘The Thieves (2012)’, ‘New World (2012)’, and ‘The Face Reader (2013)’, he opened his second heyday. Now he is a master of role design. He expresses even ordinary characters’ lines stylishly. He adds rhythm with his attractive low voice to enhance dimensionality.
The power to maintain a certain level is endless effort. Even now, whenever Lee Jung-jae’s concerns about a role deepen, he visits his mentor, Professor Choi Hyung-in, an honorary professor in the Department of Theater and Film at Hanyang University. He is the teacher of acting powerhouses like Sol Kyung-gu and Yoo Oh-sung. He erases fears about acting and boosts self-esteem and confidence. Thanks to him, Lee Jung-jae has rearmed his entire life with a challenging attitude, even voluntarily taking on villain roles that other actors avoid. He is no longer forced to make choices like the characters in ‘Squid Game’.
"The more you know, the harder acting gets, but now I feel a bit more comfortable. I think steady effort has led to the results I have now."
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