Lee Da Hae, Park Min Young, and Kim Sun Ah All Switch Agencies in the New Year

Normally an actor or actress moves agencies is not really worth writing about but the recent moves of three Korean actresses merits a mention since it might have a big impact on their acting careers in the new year with a look back at their recent career trajectory. First up is Lee Da Hae (My Girl, Chuno, IRIS 2) who has just moved from her old agency Forestar Entertainment to FNC Entertainment which reps CN Blue and Lee Dong Gun among others. Forestar is currently in a heated fight with Jung Seok Won who is trying to break his contract with them so who knows what’s going on over there. Lee Da Hae had a terrible month of December considering she was also one of the handful of ladies alleged by netizens as part of the actress prostitution ring which was cleared up by prosecutors as all false attribution. FNC has a much bigger representation of musical talent but with the addition of Lee Da Hae in addition to signing Lee Dong Gun earlier this year it’s setting up a nice solid acting contingent. It’s also worth noting they worked together before in Sweet 18 though Lee Da Hae played the clingy second female lead and maybe being in the same agency they can work together again. Her star has been decidedly muted in Korea in the last few years and far from her high during the My Girl days. I think she needs to lay off anymore fixes to her face and just let her natural acting talent shine through. She’s really one good role and project away from reclaiming my good graces. King Kong Entertainment also recently lost two of its leading ladies – Park Min Young (who hasn’t acted in all of 2013 and in 2012 she did Dr. Jin) bolted in two months ago and recently signed with Culture Depot which is the agency that reps Jeon Ji Hyun, and Kim Sun Ah left this week after her contract expired but doesn’t have a new agency yet.

It’s a new year and I’m all for the ladies switching agencies since it might reinvigorate their acting careers. Is been years since each had a major hit under their belt – Kim Sun Ah is still best known for My Name is Kim Sam Soon and her City Hall was well-received but underrated, Park Min Young had a great leading lady start with Sungkyunkwan Scandal and City Hunter and its been a plateau since then, and Lee Da Hae gets controversy wherever she goes and needs a bona fide memorable role like she was in My Girl. I actually like all three actresses very much, and oddly my favorite Park Min Young role and performance was in the wackadoodle makjang Man of Honor with Chun Jung Myung. I think they’ve had very poor project choices in the last few years and it’s time a new agency helps steer them in a better direction.


Comments

Lee Da Hae, Park Min Young, and Kim Sun Ah All Switch Agencies in the New Year — 15 Comments

  1. All the best to these ladies… I hope that change is for the better!! Sounds like it will be. Fighting…

    I don’t pay attention to agencies so I don’t really know who reps who other than singers with SM that get talked about a lot and that whole merger. But other than that I am petty clueless. Who reps Yeh? I feel like she needs a fresh change.

  2. Lee Da Hae gave an awesome performance in Miss Ripley, so my girl is not her last best performance.She won Grand Price at Korean Cultural and Entertainment Awards 2011 for her role in Miss Ripley.
    To me her best performance still Lotus Flower Fairies, her first leading role.

  3. I’m irrationally fond of Lee Da-hae and I want her to land a good role. She is one of the better actresses out there. I’d like to see her with Jo In-sung or Jung Dong-gun (again!).

  4. I like LDH as an actress, but I found it hard to like her as a person. To me, she has tendency to destroy herself, be it PS addict and doesn’t care about her career or reputation. I’m also not sure why she wants to change company, ever since MY GIRL, she’s only wants to act once a year, or only acts whenever she feels like it and who her costars. So I think, not a issue of her agency so much, maybe she not really interested in acting.

    • I’m a fan of LDH and I have to put my two cents in. It couldn’t be farther from the truth if one says that she doesn’t want to act. She came from a chabeol family. She doesn’t need to work if she doesn’t want to but she’s very passionate about her work. She has been at odds with her agencies and with forestar too. They wanted her to do projects that are in their interest and not hers. She tried to end the contract so they frozen her career for two years now.

      After East of Eden, her career were on a standstill. No one wants to work with her until Jang Huk rescued her by recommending to the producer to cast her.

      In the past recent years, she has been focusing her career in china.

      To me, she just does not having luck in terms to picking the right agency. I felt that she was really mismanaged. Often times she says things that put her in bad position.

  5. I feel like I haven’t seen PMY in years, but then I dropped Dr Jin like a hot potato so it’s not like she vanished from drama land. I think she’s chosen some great projects and even if they were crappy in quality, they’ve always been rated relatively high. I hope her agency can get her projects in the level of CH, I’ve always been fond of her.

  6. 2010 🙂 .I love Park min young since sungkyunkwan scandal.she was great there.city hunter also is my fav.man of honor was ok.didn’t have a chance to watch Dr jin yet.MY leaving KK for the better.,Kk in the last 2 yrs had so many actor to manage in their agency.Culture Depot could do a better job for Min young Career in the future coz they only had 2 actor to manage.,Jun ji hyun & Park min young.Hope for The Best for Min young in 2014. Fighting! 😉

  7. I like Lee Da Hae a lot as an actress, I’ve heard complaints about her real-life personality but I don’t take any interest in that, so it doesn’t interfere with my appreciation. I wish she’d star in more kdramas, Mrs Ripley was ages ago!

  8. I always tell myself there’s nothing wrong with plastic surgery ……..but when I see these faces….it’s just too bizzare. I wish people wouldn’t go overbroad with it. They are still so young. They could delay it a bit. A lot of Korean actors are beginning to look like clones. I love Korean cinema and dramas but the actors have got to slow down on this the crazy PS…..It’s beginning to get disturbing………

  9. I like LDH in My Girl more. I have watched Miss Ripley, not particularly enjoy this drama, her acting is ok but her face seems “frozen”, her emotions cannot be expressed through her rock-hard ice-smooth cheeks. She now looks like a mannequin, very pretty but emotionless. Sad.

  10. Since Kim Sun-ah is still in the market for agency, I hope she picks Fantagio which houses Ha Jungwoo, then they can do a project together.

  11. I never had much opinion about Lee Da Hae, until I saw her in Chuno. I loved her in that. I haven’t watched her other dramas. They haven’t sparked an interest in me. I can’t wait to watch her in something though. I can only watch a drama if both the cast and the plot sounds good.

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