In the drama "Boys Over Flowers," a pack of four rich and powerful students, known as F4, ruled and terrorized the students in their elite high school. The show was such a big hit that the actors/singers who played F4 were suddenly much in demand.
The careers of the first three actors seemed to derive the most benefit from the attention. Lee Min Ho, Kim Hyun Joong and Kim Joon quickly achieved star status, landing prized roles and boosting their singing careers.
But the fourth F4 actor, Kim Joon, kept the lowest profile after the show's 2009 end, making career choices that did not quite earn him stardom. He served on the cast of variety shows, including "Invincible Baseball Team," and "Mnet Scandal," a show where a celebrity dates a non-celebrity. He had a role in the musical "Youthful March" and starred in the drama "Homicide Division." In that drama, he played Shin Dong Jin, a detective who is better at cyber-investigations than real-life cases as he is terrified of corpses. The reviews for that drama performance were not all positive, with some reviewers saying he was miscast and should focus on comedy.
Kim Joon then began a master's degree on Global Culture Content at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies, wanting to study the spread of Hallyu culture. Then in 2011, Kim enlisted for compulsory military service. Fans were beginning to wonder if he had given up on acting.
But he hasn't. He finished his military service this week and is ready for a fresh start to his career. To re-focus his career, Kim, 29, has signed on with a new talent agency, Chang Company.
According to the agency, the actor has plenty to offer. He's attractive, can play a variety of roles and he has a good voice.
"He has many strengths that help him be a good actor, and he plans to continue to concentrate on acting," said a representative of the company.
Before Kim was honorably discharged from the military, he was already considering offers, including some roles in other countries.
"Offers are already pouring in, not only from Korea, but also other countries such as Japan and China, so we don't plan on holding back in our support for his career," the representative said.
Kim debuted as a rapper with the band T-Max in 2007. Their song, "Paradise" was featured in the first Boys Over Flowers soundtrack and other T-Max songs were added to subsequent soundtracks. The band broke up in 2011 shortly before he enlisted.
