[K-Star’s Best Character] Oh Yeon Seo Can Pull Off Any Characters

Edited by Seo Hayne
Translated Kim Hoyeun

Oh Yeon Seo debuted as a member of LUV in 2002 and started acting the following year as Lee Ok Rim’s model-student sister Le Ye Rim in KBS series Sharp 1. Afterward, she appeared in several projects playing big and small roles. Then in 2009, she played the lead role in the film A Blood Pledge after beating out 5545 applicants.

Entering the year 2012, which is about 10 years into her career, Oh started enjoying rising popularity. First, she played selfish Bang Mal Sook in the KBS series My Husband Got a Family. In the project, she well expressed the tension of Korea’s unique “monster-in-laws” culture as a hateful sister-in-law. Later that same year, she took on the complete opposite role as Na Gong Joo, the youngest daughter of a soft-hearted rich family, in the MBC series Here Comes Mr. Oh. This was the first project where she played the title role and received favorable reviews for her natural emotional acting. Thanks to her efforts, she won two Best New Actress Awards at the KBS and MBC Drama Awards that year.

In the 2014 MBC series Jang Bo-ri is Here, she turned into Jang Bo Ri, whose life takes a dramatic turn from being a foster daughter to the only daughter of a renowned Hanbok-making house. Compared to the vicious acts of Yeon Min Jung, she was unrealistically and frustratingly kind. But still, Oh received positive reviews for her flawless job of pulling off everything about the role; from curly permed hair and Jeolla dialect to comedy and emotional performance. As a result, she was awarded the Top Excellence Award at the MBC Drama Awards and Korea Drama Awards.

But the most exciting project for the actress was the 2016 SBS series Come Back Mister. The series follows the dead that temporarily returns to life by taking other peoples’ bodies. Oh comically played Han Hong Nan, the body that Han Gi Tak (Kim Soo Ro) used for his reincarnation. In an interview, she once said that this was a one-of-a-kind character as she has to “act with a 40-years-old man inside my body.”

Moreover, Oh consistently challenged herself by taking part in Green Days: Dinosaur and I (2011), Just Friends (2012), and Take Off 2 (2016). In 2017, she made headlines when she was cast to play Hong Seol in the movie version of Cheese in the Trap. Even when the webtoon of the same name was published, she was fans’ number one pick for the role.

Following Joo Seo Yeon from the MBC series Love with Flaws (2019-2020), she is returning to the small screen with yet another romance series, Kakao TV’s Mad for Each Other. She will breathe life into the role of Lee Min Kyung, who always goes up against Noh Hwi Oh (Jung Woo) and provokes his anger. I can’t wait to see what Oh Yeon Seo, who can pull off any character, will show us this time.

Editor Seo Hayne: I like actors as they faithfully lead through their long running-time. I also like idols who accomplish everything on stage within 3 minutes.

Translator Kim Hoyeun: If you are a fan of K-drama, K-movie, and K-pop, I am your guy. I will continue to provide you with up-to-date K-entertainment news.