Jin Sun Kyu is undeniably one of the greatest Korean actors of his generation. From comedy to thriller, he masters every genre effortlessly. His recent performance in Husbands in Action once again showcased his remarkable skills. In an exclusive interview, the actor talked about dealing with anxiety while leading a project and staying grounded in an industry obsessed with star power. Read on!
1. You once mentioned that your mainstream success felt ‘too quick’ and that public expectations terrified you. When that anxiety creeps in while leading a project, how do you calm yourself down?
A: I think every actor, every person who gets recognised and starts taking on bigger roles, carries that pressure. The audience’s expectations, the assumption that, of course, you’ll be good, and the sense that you mustn’t let anyone down — the way people look at you. There are a lot of moments when that lands as pressure. Not just for me. But like I said before, I don’t think of myself as a perfect person. My acting isn’t the best there is, and I know there are places where I still have room to grow.
Which is exactly why my strength — my weapon — is the people who can fill those spaces. Scene partners who make up for what I don’t have. A director who can see where I’m coming up short and tell me so. A crew who can shore up those places. I lean on them a lot, and I tell them honestly what I’m thinking and where I am. I say it out loud: this part is hard. I can’t quite get at this. I don’t know how to express it.
Being able to say that, I think, can be a strength. And once I started working that way, the actors and directors around me seemed to think, well, if Sun Kyu is putting it out there like that, let’s all do it together. Instead of everyone holding up the parts of themselves that are already perfect, we’d admit what was missing and fill it in for each other. That’s been the process on every film I’ve worked on.
That’s what I believe. Show what you don’t have yet; meet people who can fill it; go find those people. I think that’s what takes a little of the pressure off.
2. The industry culture expects leading men to showcase a larger-than-life star aura. Yet you’re widely admired for remaining humble and down-to-earth. So, what does it take to stay authentic in such an environment?
A: There’s no secret to it, really. I think the good thing is simply knowing how far my ability goes right now. I’m not someone with unlimited ability, someone already at 100 percent. It’s more that little by little, as I keep acting and meeting colleagues and doing the work, my acting gets a bit deeper.
Maybe that’s why, if I had to name my great strength, it’s that I try not to forget how I felt when I first started back when I was less sure of myself, when I knew far less about acting.
Back then, even saying one line on stage, living as that character for just a moment, all that studying and building him up, and acting on stage alongside my colleagues — those were the most precious, the happiest moments I’ve had.
So even now, I meet actors and take on films with that same mindset. I want to treasure them, and I hope they’ll be work I can still do happily. I think about that time a lot.
The way it was then: not asking whether any job is the best one but whether I can truly enjoy doing it. That question is still what moves me forward, bit by bit. It’s what drives me, and it’s my motto.
For the unversed, Husbands in Action is streaming on Netflix.