K-drama actors take on many roles from doctors to bodyguards to psychics. But occasionally they also play actors.
The most recent example of an actor playing an actor may be Jun Ji Hyun's portrayal of Chun Song Yi in "You Who Came From The Stars.' Her performance poked a lot of fun at celebrity culture. Chun Song Yi is vain, not very well informed and self-absorbed. But she was also adorable when she showed her vulnerable insecure side in private.
She's not the first actor to portray an actor or parody the industry. But while some actors must really behave as badly as Chun Song Yi, she would not admit to being inspired by anyone in particular. In real life, Jin Ji Hyun is much smarter, less self-absorbed and better at protecting her own image than her onscreen character.
Cha Seung Won, who will soon appear in as a police officer in "You're Surrounded," played an actor in the comedy "The Greatest Love." His character Dokko Jin was not a shining example of a well-behaved celebrity. But Cha Seung Won was actually fond of his bad-tempered, narrow-minded and very defensive character.
"He's hard to hate," he told Sports Seoul.
Rather than say that his character was a parody of a real person, Cha Seung Won said that the character was inspired by tendencies he saw in himself. He saw some similarities between his real-life personality and the character's. He drew on those similarities and just exaggerated them.
"It's about 50-50," he said.
Yoo In Na, Jun Ji Hyun's supporting actress in "You Who Came From The Stars" has played a k-celebrity three times and two of those times, she was a petty and vindictive actress. She was Cha Seung Won's girlfriend and the celebrity host of a dating program in "The Greatest Love." She played an actress who played Queen Inhyun in "Queen Inhyun's Man." Then she played Jun Ji Hyun's frenemy in "You Who Came From The Stars." That character was obviously resentful of Chun Song Yi's fame and eager to push her aside.
In real life, she was not jealous of Jun JI Hyun. It's not really the way she feels about other actresses.
"We actually became friends," Yoo In Na said on the "Drunk Talk" program. "We had a good time eating snacks on set. And we promised to go out together and eat something delicious. As I watched her act, I realized once again why everyone loves her. She is good at everything; comic, action, you name it."
