Shin Won Ho Turns 21 and Koala Celebrates!

LOL, is this even news? Around here them parts it sure is. Especially since coming of legal age means said actor gets to graduate from the object of ICOMYM affection. Shin Won Ho turned 21 last month and I’ve simply been too busy to devote a post about it. When I say he turned 21, I mean 21 in Western age and not those fake 21 Korean age thingies where they give a newborn infant the age of 1 by adding the time in the womb into the age count. When I saw Yoo Seung Ho‘s entrance as adult Kang Hyung Joon in Missing You, aside from swooning over his baby boy smolder, it also totally totally reminded me of Shin’s famous entrance in episode 1 of Big as Kang Kyung Joon. By the way, I also realize the character names for both guys are ridiculously similar. I promise I don’t have this thing for guys with the last name Kang and the last character Joon. Looking back, I know I loved Big as much as I did because Shin set the stage for Kyung Joon in episode 1 using a short 40 minutes to really lay the foundation of this just returning to Korea teenage boy without real family and armed with only his smarts, backbone, and sharp tongue. I don’t think any male lead character in any 2012 drama made as strong of an impression on me. I’m still sad Shin wasn’t able to come back and finish up his role in Big in the final episode. Since wrapping up Big during the Summer, Shin has been busy with his idol group Cross Gene doing promotions and releasing new singles. As much as I love him, Cross Gene will never be my thing. I hope he comes back with a fantastic drama next year (I wish he was one of the flower boys in Flower Boy Next Door) and maybe sticks with acting full time when he gets tired of this idol thingie. Whatever he lacks in acting training and nuance he more than makes up for it with onscreen charisma and great co-start chemistry. Check out the bus scene from episode 1 of Big below as a walk down memory lane with me.

Big episode 1 bus cut scene: