Early on in "Empress Ki," Ha Ji Won and Ji Chang Wook race their horses down Dae Chang Do beach. It's a beautiful scene because the actors are both skilled riders. Riding horses is one of Ha Ji Won's many off screen hobbies. She is also no stranger to the expert moves required for sword fighting. The actress is an expert at Kendo, a modern Japanese martial art that is descended from sword fighting and whose followers now uses bamboo sticks. And she could probably flip you on to your back without much effort.
She learned martial arts for her role as Kim Hang Ah, a North Korean Special Forces Officer, in "King 2 Hearts," performing her own stunts without a double in that drama. Playing stuntwoman Gil Da Ran in "Secret Garden" was just the beginning. After that she learned whatever physical skills she needed for a drama or commercial role so she could do as many of her own stunts as possible. As a result, she can box, do advanced aerobics, play table tennis and rock climb. She's also pretty muscular. To prepare for her role as an oil rig inspector in the film "Sector 7," she worked out for weeks to strengthen her muscles. She spent eight-hour days swimming and lifting weights.
"I have a petite physique," said Ha Ji Won. "So I concentrated on weight training to prevent my action scenes from looking weak and powerless."
Part of the appeal of her "Empress Ki" role was the chance to do more action scenes.
"My ideal female role model is someone who is not fragile, someone who is independent and charismatic," said Ha Ji Won. "I want to keep doing action scenes like Angelina Jolie."
Although she had most of her action scenes early on in "Empress Ki" when her character Seung Nyang was pretending to be a boy, she still has to occasionally use her fighting skills in her life as a palace lady. Her skills come in handy when she has to fend off unwanted advances and keep palace bullies from ruining her life.
Considering all the energy that she has put into performing her own stunts, she is totally believable as someone who could at least temporarily pass for a boy in those sword-heavy times. But as the characters like to say in "Empress Ki," she was much too pretty for a boy and makes a very attractive woman. Not many actress look that good and can perform their own stunts.
