In 2014 JYJ's Park Yoo Chun received the Rookie Actor Award at the 34th Korean Association of Film Critics Awards. And he won a Best New Actor Award for his first film role at the Grand Bell Awards. And yet being honored for his performance in the film 'Sea Fog," also known as "Haemoo" was not as positive an experience as you might imagine.
Lingering doubts about his performance led to feelings of embarrassment about winning an award at such a young age.
"If I had been older when I received the awards it wouldn't have been this awkward," Park Yoochun said in an interview with Sports Donga. "It's not always a great feeling getting an award in front of all your seniors. It's embarrassing. I don't think I did so well. I still ache at the thought of 'Haemoo."
The film is based on the tragic story of a real Korean fishing ship named Taechangho. The fishing ship was not catching enough fish to survive so they began smuggling Chinese stowaways into Korea. To avoid detection the crew hid the stowaways in the ship's storage compartment but the stowaways suffocated. The crew then threw their bodies overboard. In "Sea Fog" Park Yoo Chun played a young sailor named Dong Sik. His character does what he is told until his love for a stowaway makes him examine his decisions from a new perspective.
Although Park Yoo Chun began his career as a singer, he became increasingly passionate about acting in the five years since his first drama role.
"I started acting in 2010 with the drama "Sungkyunkwan Scandal" and a close friend of mine said I am going to want to act more the more I do it," he told Sports Donga. "I didn't know what that meant then but now I do. I love the feeling I get when I'm acting."
He worked hard in dramas such as "Rooftop Prince," "Miss Ripley," "Missing You" and "Three Days" to establish himself as an accomplished actor rather than an idol actor who was cast because of his popularity.
"I wanted to be known as Park Yoo Chun, not Mickey Yoo Chun from the group TVXQ," he said when he won the Best Actor Award. "I was being greedy. Many people have helped me to be where I am today and I am going to work harder to make sure I am worthy of being called an actor."
