Actor Shin Ye Eun shared her thoughts on entering her 30s.
Shin Ye Eun held a series-ending interview for the ENA Monday-Tuesday drama "Doctor on the Edge" (written by Kim Ji-soo, directed by Lee Myung-woo, planned by KT Studio Genie, produced by The Studio M, original work Kakao Page "Jonbeo Doctor" by writer Kim Tae-poong) on the 7th at a cafe in Palpan-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul.
"Doctor on the Edge" is a medical human romance about public health doctor Do Ji (Lee Jae-wook) and the secretive nurse Yook Ha-ri (Shin Ye Eun), who arrived on the notoriously shunned island of Pyeondongdo. Premiering on the 1st of last month, "Doctor on the Edge" recorded a 4.0% viewership rating (Nielsen Korea nationwide) and made a strong start as ENA's highest-rated Monday-Tuesday drama to date. Reaching a peak rating of 5.2% (episode 4), "Doctor on the Edge" landed in Disney Plus's global top 10 in the TV shows category and concluded its run with episode 12, broadcast on the 7th.
Shin Ye Eun met viewers as Yook Ha-ri, a bold and kind nurse who returns to her hometown of Pyeondongdo. Concealing hidden wounds, Yook Ha-ri faces life's dilemmas on Pyeondongdo and experiences dynamic emotional shifts, which Shin Ye Eun portrayed with solid acting skills and a distinctive command of the character. Covering comedy, melodrama and the warmth of a medical human drama, Shin Ye Eun once again stamped herself as an irreplaceable actress.
Now in her 30s, Shin Ye Eun opened up about the growing pains she felt in her acting career as she moved through her late 20s, saying, "When I started acting in my early 20s, I never really experienced major failures," and added, "I always got the roles I wanted, got into the schools I wanted, and people around me only said, 'Oh, you're doing so well.' So even if someone said, 'You got this wrong,' I didn't get hurt that much."
Although in her early 20s Shin Ye Eun had a mindset of 'it's okay, I'm good at other things' toward criticism and feedback, she said that now, with the first digit of her age changed, "From my 20s to my 30s I've experienced failures, pain and hitting walls, and I think I've been finding ways to respond flexibly within that."
Shin Ye Eun is also going through emotional changes. She said, "Sometimes when I listen to old songs I feel nostalgic, and childhood dreams and passion make a person emotional," and recently she has become so sentimental and wistful that she confronted an imagined version of her in her early 20s. To that imagined early-20s Shin Ye Eun, she said she would like to say, "I envy you. You went through a lot. You made the right choices. I really like that purity and clarity."
Above all, Shin Ye Eun's passion for acting remains undiminished. She said, "If I became dull and adopted an attitude of 'whatever will be, will be,' that would be sad. I've always acted with excitement since middle school, and if that disappears I would be very sad," adding, "It's a relief and rather something I'm grateful for that I still worry, feel frustrated and suffer over this job and sometimes long for the past."
Currently Shin Ye Eun's biggest concerns are "becoming an adult" and "the public's love." She said, "I wonder what it means to be an adult and how I can be more loved," adding, "I want to think about the trends the world watches and the points viewers like. I tend to be ambitious in my work, so while I am grateful for the love I receive, I don't think I can be satisfied." (Interview continued in part 4.)<
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