Lee Bo Young and her husband actor Ji Sung don't have any children yet. The couple married last year and have no immediate plans for babies, although they expressed the desire to have two children and possibly a girl first.
And while the actress can envision having two children at some point in the future, playing a mother in a drama might still be a challenge. Not only does she not have any real-life offspring. She's never even played a drama mom. But it's exactly that challenge she wanted to face when she signed on for the drama "God's Gift - 14 Days."
Her character in that drama is a mother with a very important mission. Her child dies and she gets the gift of being able to time travel 14 days into the past to prevent that death from taking place. In the process she must examine what kind of mother she has been.
Lee Bo Young is last year's Daesang winner. She scored hits with her role as Seo Young in the weekend drama "My Daughter Seo Young" and prosecutor Jang Hye Sung in the paranormal courtroom drama "I Hear Your Voice." Living up to that kind of success may not be easy. Anything she does now will be anticipated and critically examined.
She hopes that the way she chooses roles will continue to result in successful performances. In choosing last year's hit dramas and in deciding on this drama, she made her character the deciding factor.
"The character is the most important consideration when I choose a drama," she said. "I think about what kind of message the character can deliver. The character I play in this drama has her own story and I think that I can tell it well."
She is not very worried about ratings, which is good because "God's Gift - 14 Days" will be in direct competition with the longstanding ratings winner "Empress Ki." Lee Bo Young has said that it will be difficult to compete with the last few weeks of that 50-episode historical drama.
"I don't expect high results," she said modestly. "MBC's 'Empress Ki' has really settled in. But I'm sure there will be a small number of people who will support the drama's genre."
"God's Gift - 14 Days" begins on March 3. It also stars Cho Seung Woo, Kim Tae Woo, and Jung Gyu Woon. Lee Dong Hoon will direct.
