Hallyu star Choi Ji Woo will return to the small screen in a new SBS drama, "The Housekeeper."
Those new to kdrama may not know that Choi Ji Woo is not just any Hallyu star. She was one of the first. Her roles in the dramas "Stairway to Heaven," "Beautiful Days" and "Winter Sonata," helped launch the Korean wave that continues to export kdramas around the world.
The 2002 drama "Winter Sonata," in which she starred with Bae Yong Joon, became a major hit throughout Asia, especially in Japan. Japanese fans gave her the nickname Princess Ji Woo and she continues to be a big box office draw there.
In her first few roles, she portrayed an innocent girl and subsequent attempts to play anything else did not fare well with Korean critics. In the 2011 drama "Can't Lose" she played a divorce lawyer in the middle of a divorce with her onscreen husband played by Yoon Sang Hyun.
When she was filming that comedy, reporters asked her if she worried about straying away from the innocent image that had been so successful for her.
"I've had the same image for 15 years," she said. "Isn't it time for me to break out? I was a melodrama queen and now I want the title of romantic comedy queen."
Since then she has appeared in a Chinese drama and had a show promoting Korean cuisine. Her new role as Park Bok Nyeo in "The Housekeeper" will require yet another transformation.
"It will be an acting transformation challenge for me as an actress that I have never shown before," said Choi.
"The Housekeeper" is a remake of the Japanese hit drama "Kaseifa no Mita" or "I Am Mita, Your Housekeeper," the highest viewed Japanese drama in 2011. The story is about a mysterious housekeeper who begins working in a family recently stricken by tragedy. The mother has just committed suicide because of the father's infidelity. The new housekeeper will do everything that her employers ask, even kill people, except she will not smile or reveal details about her past. Together they will help heal each other's emotional damage.
Choi, 38, said she was attracted to the role right away.
"Because of the touching humanism of the original drama, the unique charms of the character and my deep trust in the successful director Kim Hyung Shik, I did not hesitate to choose this project," said Choi.
"The Housekeeper" will air in September. No other parts have been cast yet.
