Actor Kim Hye-eun looked back on her acting life.
On the 16th episode of KBS1's 'Morning Yard' in the 'Tuesday guest seat' segment, Kim Hye-eun appeared and reflected on life in the entertainment industry.
After majoring in vocal music at Seoul National University, transforming into a weather caster and later working as an actress, Kim Hye-eun made her first appearance on 'Morning Yard,' which is approaching its 10,000th episode. Appearing in an outfit that looked more suited to fashion week, Kim Hye-eun said, "If I come out looking nice, I might look like a weather caster, so I came with some swagger," and added, "I enjoy watching 'Morning Yard,' and these days the 'Tuesday guest seat' has become really hot. Many people are lining up, so I ended up appearing."
Kim Hye-eun, who has been acting for 18 years, said, "I was also surprised. It's almost been 20 years." Kim Hye-eun, who has not taken a break since 2010, said, "Starting late made me feel like whenever I had a chance to rest I would think, 'Can I rest?' I asked myself, 'Do I really understand acting?' and studied, and as I devoted myself, it's become close to 20 years. I can't even go on overseas trips; my life has been only on drama sets. Maybe that's why I can appear on 'Morning Yard' now."
About the job of being an actor, Kim Hye-eun said, "Becoming an actor changed me a lot as a person. Before that I studied pure art and was in a broadcaster's news department, but by acting I got to live other people's lives. As I took on a variety of roles, I reflected on myself. I gained the ability to objectify myself. I see myself as a character rather than measuring myself by my own yardstick. Sometimes I feel pathetic, and other times I think it's okay."
Kim Hye-eun, who sang from age 4 and majored in vocal music at Seoul National University, said, "I was someone who grasped the theme well. That trait was strong from childhood, and during winter break of my junior year I wanted to go to the Juilliard School in the United States, so I looked into it and went over. There were outstanding people from around the world. I realized my instrument (voice) wasn't especially great, and I began to doubt myself and realized no matter what I did it wouldn't work. In my senior year I thought, 'My instrument is lousy,' and returned home, but the IMF hit and my family had financial difficulties. As the eldest daughter, without certainty I could become a world-class prima donna, I felt it wouldn't be right to put this on my parents, so I gave up that dream."
Kim Hye-eun added, "My mother cried a lot. She had worked to make me a vocalist since I was 4, and she was very disappointed. But at the time I thought doing this would help my parents. I persuaded her that although she might be sad now, later she would say I did the right thing, and now she really says that. Because I was able to objectify myself, I think I could stop immediately."
After that, Kim Hye-eun worked as a weather caster. She said, "The IMF years were painful, and after deciding singing wasn't the path, I wondered how I would make a living. Watching the news inspired me, and after applying to various broadcasters I went to MBC, where they were choosing two out of six and I placed third. Not knowing that, I went to Cheongju MBC and was asked if I wanted to try being a weather caster, so I did. I really hated earth science, but working as a weather caster made me study it again."
Kim Hye-eun said she worked hard to surpass weather caster Lee Ik-seon and explained that Lee Ik-seon was a great help in getting her to where she is now. Kim Hye-eun said, "It was live, and I even sang live sometimes; looking back, I wonder how I did those things," adding that she used different raincoat colors to present the weather. But Kim Hye-eun said, "Because I was good at self-objectification, even within the organization I reflected on myself. After a while I thought the position didn't have to be me. I felt the organization would run fine without me, and no matter how hard I worked it felt futile."
Kim Hye-eun explained, "I would spend all day worrying about making the lead-in unique, and when I crafted an opening, the weather caster for the next morning's news would use it verbatim. No one in the organization knew about that. It was sad that no one knew I had been worrying like that. After a year of nothing happening, I thought I couldn't give motivation to my life, so I left."
After being a weather caster, Kim Hye-eun began life as an actress. She said, "When I was a weather caster there was a production with a news department backdrop. A weather caster appears briefly and I played the protagonist's goofy friend; acting was a different realm. Maybe because people recognized the effort I had made, what was a brief appearance became a six-episode role." Through drama she had a new experience; because she couldn't hear in one ear and rested for about a month, Kim Hye-eun quit being a weather caster and debuted as an actress through Ahyeon-dong Mrs.
Kim Hye-eun debuted through a work by writer Im Sung-han. She debuted as an actress one year after giving birth, and said, "I convinced my husband I would do only one project. After appearing in 'The War on Crime,' people around me said they couldn't stop me, and now he helps a lot." Having entered the path of acting that way, Kim Hye-eun spread her wings by appearing in various works.
Kim Hye-eun said, "Having mainly done screen acting, I have one challenge left, which is stage acting. I think I should try it once; I've been afraid so far but I want to challenge it before I get older." Lee Kwang-ki noted that Kim Hye-eun's daughter is a high school student but a cosmetics CEO, and said because she inherited her mother's spirit of challenge, Kim Hye-eun could also succeed in a new field and cheered her on.
Meanwhile, Kim Hye-eun gave a strong performance in the film 'The Family's Secret,' which opened on the 10th.
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