Edited by Seo Hayne
Translated by Kim Hoyeun
Do you remember the time when he used to sing “Instinctively” on his guitar with a beret slightly placed on top of his head in Superstar K 2 ten years ago? Or, do you remember how he put the crown on his head for 6 weeks in a row only with his voice in King of Mask Singer earlier this year? Or is Kang Seung Yoon just another idol who acts to you?
Kang Seung Yoon first started his acting career in 2011 through the sitcom High Kick 3 as an affectionate and cheerful high school student. And that previous year, he joined YG Entertainment after finishing the audition program Superstar K 2 and had been preparing for his official debut. At the time, whether Kang Seung Yoon would debut as a member of a boy group or a solo artist was covered with a veil. Because of that, some viewers thought, “He’s pretty good in acting, maybe he’ll debut as an actor instead of a singer.”
Even after his debut as WINNER in 2014, Kang appeared in several web dramas, including We Broke Up with Sandara Park (the same YG family) and Love for a Thousand More with Kim Jin Woo. Then in 2017, he met his “all-time best character” in Prison Playbook.
In this drama, he flawlessly took on a double role, the youngest inmate who got a prison sentence after stealing a bread and a villain on death row. He even spoke fluent dialect in the project, and the fact that he was born in Busan played a big part.
In 2020, Kang Seung Yoon returned to the small screen after 3 years with Kairos. He plays Im Geon Wook, who actively helps his friend Ae Ri search for her missing mother and takes the lead in solving the case. Unlike previous works, the tone he shows differ, not to mention the weight given to his character. In an interview with magazine Beauty+, Kang talked about putting effort into sounding natural with standard Korean and added, “I think it will be enough for me if people recognize that I’m not the person who ‘acts because of my dialect’ and someone ‘who really wants to act.’”
Kang Seung Yoon shows his full potential as a musician and an actor in every project he took part in. Following his participation in OST songs for High Kick 3, Prison Playbook and Love for a Thousand More, he once again lent his voice in Kairos‘s main theme song “Can you hear me.” Kang Seung Yoon’s wise career as an actor who grasped both music and acting will continue.
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