TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Joo Won: The good actor
JP/Seto WardhanaCrowned as one of four âHallyu Kingsâ for his popularity outside his native country of South Korea, multi-talented actor Joo Won keeps on seeking challenges to develop his acting skills
Change Size
JP/Seto Wardhana
Crowned as one of four 'Hallyu Kings' for his popularity outside his native country of South Korea, multi-talented actor Joo Won keeps on seeking challenges to develop his acting skills.
And Joo Won stands out among today's K-Wave male stars not only because of his good looks.
His screen debut was in the 2010 drama King of Baking (also known as Bread, Love and Dreams), in which he assumed the character of the antagonist that, unexpectedly, became a character loved by viewers. The drama was soon dubbed a 'national drama' because of its popularity.
After that, he was unstoppable.
'I'm not afraid of taking on challenges. Not many actors my age can stand on stage and act like I do. I have the confidence to stay in my acting career for a long time because I have done all the titles other actors avoided,' said the 28-year-old during a group interview in Jakarta.
Joo Won was in town over the weekend to greet his fans at the Lotte Shopping Avenue, the main venue for the month-long Korean Festival, held to celebrate the bilateral relationship between Indonesia and South Korea.
Joo Won referred to his complex roles as a prodigal doctor with aspergers syndrome in the 2013 film The Good Doctor, and as a pro-Japanese Korean police officer in 2012's Bridal Mask, as among the challenges he had taken that had in turn propelled him to stardom.
He has received several drama awards for his acting on TV, in addition to positive reviews from critics and viewers.
Joo Won just completed The Gang Doctor, aired in Indonesia on the One channel and will rerun starting Nov. 7, in which he assumed the character of an exceptionally talented surgeon willing to break the law to make more money for his ailing baby sister.
The star-studded series, the cast of which includes diva actress Kim Tae-hee, Jo Hyun-jae, Chae Jung-ahn and Park Hye-su, has been named Indonesia's most popular TV series this year, and had been extended by two more episodes from the initial 16.
It is also the first TV series to break the 20 percent ratings benchmark set by the 2014 supernatural hit My Love From the Star (Kim Soo-hyun, Jun Ji-hyun).
Born on Sept. 30, 1987 as Moon Jun-won, Joo Won discovered his love of acting with encouragement from his parents at a young age. The discovery changed his personality from that of an introverted kid into a star on stage.
It was his father who gave him his stage name, a name whose pronunciation is similar to 'God-willing' in Korean.
He joined Kaywon High School of Arts and continued his education in Theater and Arts at Sungkyunkwan University.
He made his stage debut in 2006 and has acted in large-scale musicals such as Altar Boyz, Grease, Singles, Sinsangnam and, most remarkably, in Spring Awakening, a role that earned him a contract with entertainment agency Sim Entertainment. While being on stage is life for Joo Won, his fans are the source of his energy.
'I was surprised to see so many people welcome me at the airport,' said Joo Won, who arrived in Jakarta with fellow The Gang Doctor cast member Park Hye-soo, his on-screen sister.
He said that his fan site was his always his first destination when he surfed the internet.
'Their enthusiasm drives me,' said the coffee-lover who likes to walk around Seoul during the night whenever he can find the time.
Hoping to play a 'normal' character for his next project, Joo Won projects himself as an actor with mature acting skills.
'I imagine myself five years later having a girlfriend or perhaps settling down. I will become a more mature actor and it's one of my dreams to teach acting as well.'
______________________________
To receive comprehensive and earlier access to The Jakarta Post print edition, please subscribe to our epaper through iOS' iTunes, Android's Google Play, Blackberry World or Microsoft's Windows Store. Subscription includes free daily editions of The Nation, The Star Malaysia, the Philippine Daily Inquirer and Asia News.
For print subscription, please contact our call center at (+6221) 5360014 or subscription@thejakartapost.com
