Musical actress Jeong Young-joo shared how she unexpectedly started acting.
On the 19th, actress Jeong Young-joo appeared as a guest on KBS1's 'Morning Square'.
That day, Jeong Young-joo talked about how she began her musical career, saying, "I didn't intend to become a musical actress, but the side profile of the guy putting up flyers at the subway station looked so cool. He's not a celebrity on TV, so where would I meet someone like that? I went to see what he was posting,..."
She said, "At first, I thought that there are people who post such things, but I had no interest. That night, I dreamt about it. The next day, I went and saw that half of the poster was torn off. Luckily, there was a number, so I called to ask how to get there. In a curt voice, they simply said, 'Just bring your dance, singing, and acting skills and come in comfortable clothes,' so I was a bit hesitant and thought that it sounded strange, but I went. And there it was. I ended up auditioning by chance, got accepted, and ended up starting training by chance, and I've been doing musicals for 31 years now."
Jeong Young-joo revealed that it was a poster for recruiting members for a musical academy, saying, "The person who put up the poster was from the first cohort, and we were auditioning for the second cohort. That person became my senior." Park Cheol-kyu, the announcer, asked, "Are they still active?" and Jeong Young-joo replied, "Of course. It's actor Seo Young-joo, who is playing the role of Daewon-gun in the musical 'The Last Empress'." She then exclaimed, "Sorry, bro, I sold you again!" which made everyone laugh.
Announcer Eom Ji-in said, "It's amazing. No matter how cool the guy putting up flyers is, didn't you have to have talent in dancing, singing, and acting? You must have had a lot originally," and Jeong Young-joo explained, "I had no fear. I had experience as an aerobics instructor, so I thought I could just show a few kicks. I sang in a choir, so I was okay with that. As for acting, I had no idea, I just thought I would wing it. I went with confidence."
In response, Park Cheol-kyu asked, "Did you not know about the musical genre at all before that?" and Jeong Young-joo replied, "I was interested but never thought I could do it. My father is a huge Hollywood fan and watches a lot of movies. I ended up watching movies on TV regularly as well; back then, there were musical movies. While watching those, I thought they were really cool; I thought it was a wonderful world but had no desire to do it at all."
She particularly did not tell her family when she was accepted into the musical academy. Jeong Young-joo said, "I couldn't say anything and went quietly. My father was against it. I couldn't show him anything. Back then, elders thought of it as a fool's errand, and only after I trained and passed the audition for my first show did I finally get on stage and tell my mother. She was cautious and couldn't tell me to come see it, and only after 'The Last Empress' had gone to Broadway, LA, and the UK, and came back for an encore performance in Seoul did I finally mention it to her."
She continued, "When I told my father that I was going to a Broadway performance, he couldn't come to the show but came to the airport to see me off. He said something to encourage me, but I've been teased ever since. He was dressed in traditional Andong attire, and as the actors were boarding, he even brought a fan and said, 'Represent our country well!' I pretended not to see him, while the other actors greeted him as if he were their own father, saying, 'Goodbye, sir.' And while flying, I grumbled, 'Why did you oppose me if you were going to do that?'"
On another note, Jeong Young-joo responded to a question, "There is a saying that the person who opened the acting career for Jeong Young-joo was comedian Shim Hyung-rae," recalling, "When I started training for musicals, there was a sister who was majoring in vocal music. She got to appear in a film, where her role was the second in command of a gang. The deputy leader. This sister was really petite and always had a princess-like image wearing dresses, but she seemed unlikely for the role of a gang leader. I just happened to be working part-time as a coordinator at the time and helped her out by going around Dongdaemun Market to buy costumes and followed her on set to assist."
She explained, "Because the sister was short, the gang leader and deputy leader couldn't be captured in one frame on camera. At that time, director Shim Hyung-rae was directing, and the cinematographer was with him, a famous martial arts director of the time. He called me over and asked me to turn around, so I did a 360-degree turn. I happened to be wearing black jeans and a leather vest. He said, 'You do it,' and when I asked what to do, he said, 'Play Number 3.' I thought my father would kill me if this came out. The uncle said, 'Does your father watch Shim Hyung-rae's movies?' Hearing that, I went for it unexpectedly."
[Photo] KBS1
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