As much as I love Taiwan and Japan dramas aplenty, one thing Korea has that can’t be matched is a treasure trove of talented child actors. They aren’t necessarily the cutest or the prettiest, but hot diggity some of them can easily out-act their adult counterparts, and then some. I’ve actually found some terrible K-dramas memorable because of the childhood sections, and sometimes when the adults arrive I long for the kids to come back and keep gracing my screen. One of my favorite K-actresses Moon Geun Young fit that profile, getting her start as the teenage counterpart of Song Hye Kyo in Autumn in My Heart, and being so fantastic and memorable that it only made Song Hye Kyo more bland and boring for the remainder of the drama. Song Seung Heon got away with sucking because the kid actor who played his childhood counterpart was equally as terrible as him. It’s a a reminder of how fast time flies that Moon Geun Young gets her own childhood counterpart in dramas, which actually started back in 2008 when Kim Yoo Jung played the kid version of her character in Painter of the Wind. In the upcoming Goddess of Fire Jeongi, the childhood cast is about to start filming and the pairings have been revealed and I couldn’t be more pleased.
Jin Ji Hee will play Moon Geun Young’s character, Park Geun Tae plays Kim Bum‘s character, and No Young Hak plays Lee Sang Yoon‘s character. Jin Ji Hee looks like she’s grown quite a lot since she played the bratty teen princess character in The Moon Embraces the Sun, while No Young Hak has played tons of childhood versions of the male leads in sageuks but it was in The Duo where he played a young Chun Jung Myung that first caught my eye and he was fantastic. As for Park Geun Tae, I love him so much it needs no explanation, but a funny coincidence is that he actually acted opposite Kim Bum in East of Eden before. Kim Bum played the teenage version of Song Seung Heon’s older brother character, while Park Gun Tae was the teenage version of Yeon Jung Hoon‘s younger brother character. In real life Kim Bum is only 6 years older than Park Geun Tae, so it’ll be funny watching them played adult-kid versions of each other. Now that even Jang Ok Jung, Live in Love has taken a turn for the narrative crapper (maybe it’ll resurrect itself later, here’s to hoping), I’m starting to fret a bit about Goddess of Fire. It needn’t be filled with cliffhangers, shippy moments, or lots of intrigue, but it needs to flow with careful thought given to the world being created and the particular story being told.
At times I get sick of all those childhood “fated” stories where there is a meet cute, some getting to know each other time, and finally a reason to be parted until they are adults again. But then the drama airs and I’m usually a sucker for the story if the acting and chemistry is fantastic.
Same here! Chemistry between the child actors is a key and then it’s important that the transition to the adult actors is also good. 🙂
Not so excited about Goddess of Fire Jeongi because I’m still traumatized by MGY’s last drama which I didn’t watch after the first episodes were total f***ery. But anyways… I’m looking forward to see MGY again – just give her some bread while filming okay?
Talking of child actors… I would give anything to see Yeo Jin Gu and/or Kim Yoo Jung/Kim So Hyun together. But Kim So Hyun is busy since IMY.
park guntae over yeo jingu ANYDAY. hahaha. they seem to be the two in the spotlight often these days. park guntae and kim yoojung’s eight episodes of ‘may queen’ is the ONLY reason i refrained from spearing that drama in the gut. ugh. the adult cast. UGH. love park guntae, as well as so many of the other child actors.
Hey, Japan has plenty of talented child actors that have succesfully moved over into adult roles.
But in the recent years big talent stables like JE have been forcing their “talents” into every drama. Especially because the boys who get signed with JE are around 8-10.
While in Korea you give young child actors really a chance to shine and even outact their adult counterparts.
There is Yagira Yuya, who won the best actor awards in Cannes when he was 12 for Nobody knows (that is one heartwrenching movie)
Oguri Shun (started as a child actor),Sometani Shota, Kamiki Ryunosuke, Narumi Riko, Hashimoto Ai etc.
Kim Bum !!!!!!!!! B
Holy Jin Ji Hee definitely looks like she matured alot in the past year since Moon that Embraces the Sun.
So agree about sometimes getting tired of all the childhood “meet cute” stories. Gu Family Book is an excellent example – there is absolutely no reason for the childhood flashback section (which even contains a totally squicky scene where the boy falls on top of the girl and they “feel the chemistry”…!) except that they need to prove that a)the OTP is really the OTP and b) the second lead woman is totally unworthy of the hero. The acting and the connection between the second female and the lead were much better, so they used childhood flashbacks to keep everybody on the right OTP groove.
Other than that, there was something about a dog and a spider and it was totally ridiculous, forcing LSG to hop around like his feet were on fire. I was so embarrassed for show.
sometimes I get worried for all those korean actors aren’t there too many around ? many of them look too much alike especially the girls and what’s more 50% of korean dramas systematically repeat the same clichés
Jin Jihee looks sooooo pretty!!!
I am a HUGE lurker on your site (as in every single day)but this is my first comment!! Your site is amazing so keep up the good work!!
I am just currently watching Park Geun Tae in ‘The Time between Dog and Wolf’ as the younger Lee Jun Ki and he is such a baby faced cutie pie in it, but also really likeable and a good actor as well I feel.
His turn as the younger version of Yeo Woon in Warrior Baek Dong Soo was the only thing I liked about that drama and I think he has heaps of potential!! potential!
I dunno if I will ever be able to deal with watching the girl who played the princess in ‘the Moon that Embraces the Sun’ though….. ugh ugh.
I know its not the actress’s fault but I HATED her character with a passion!!!!!!
anyway, I am hugely looking forward to this drama!!!!
NOH YOUNG HAK. He was great in the childhood parts of GoF.
MGY…eh. I’m not really digging the “worried” look that appears every other second. But there are def some personality changes I’m not liking (she’s docile almost…no more bold jung yi).
Sorry Ms. Koala, but I REALLY like jin hee as jung yi! I thought she was amazing!
And I was sad to see NYH off the screen so soon 🙁 He was great!