Actress Mun Ka-young has further solidified her standing as a romance queen by gaining a new moniker, "the nation's ex-girlfriend," through the film Once We Were Us.
The film Once We Were Us has surpassed 2 million cumulative admissions, writing a new milestone in the success of Korean romance films. On 2019's The Most Ordinary Romance it became the highest-grossing romance in seven years, and with a story that evokes sympathy and strong performances from the actors spreading by word of mouth, it has maintained steady box office momentum even as it entered its fifth week since opening.
Mun Ka-young, who last appeared on the big screen in 2016 as a child actor and returned after nine years, met the public with a different look through the character "Jeong-won." Expanding the romance field, long considered her strength, to the screen, she fully embodied the role, bringing the character to life with her performance and naturally moving the audience, leaving a lasting impression.
Mun Ka-young's character contains the temperature of real life intact. From smoky makeup in her 20s to the unadorned, makeup-free face that reveals late-stage emotion, she conveyed changes in the warmth of love convincingly with eyes and expressions built without exaggeration and with subtle emotional currents alone, naturally drawing the audience into the drama. That is why praise continued for the face that filled the screen.
This film, based on realistic romance, drew wide sympathy across generations. Audiences laughed and shed tears recalling scenes filled with Mun Ka-young's emotions, retracing their own memories. Her performance, which makes one remember old loves or moments that were once another "Jeong-won," naturally led to the new moniker "the nation's ex-girlfriend."
Having built a solid presence in the romance genre through dramas such as The Interest of Love, The Man's Memory, and Law and The City, Mun Ka-young proved her true worth on the screen with Once We Were Us, the first film she chose after becoming an adult. With accumulated acting experience and deeper emotional expression, she drove both box office success and praise, once again showing she is an irreplaceable actor.
The film Once We Were Us marked a meaningful start for Korean cinema in 2026, and expectations for Mun Ka-young's future screen trajectory have also risen. <
[photo] Peak J Entertainment
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