Edited by Seo Hayne
Translated Kim Hoyeun
After Seo Hyun Jin first entered the industry as a member of the girl group Milk in 2001, she started acting through KBS’s Hwang Jini (2006). After appearing in several works, she started gaining recognition for her performance in MBC’s Here Comes Mr. Oh (2012-2013). In it, she played Na Jin Joo, a girl who suffers from the good girl syndrome. Though she showed a rebellious side in the second half of the work, she stayed a compliant girl overall, giving a frustrating impression.
Seo gained explosive popularity through tvN’s Another Miss Oh (2016). She played ordinary Oh Hae Young, who has always been compared to another Oh Hye Young, played by Jeon Hye Bin, who has everything. Flawlessly portraying a character who feels inferior and inferiority complex, she had gained viewers’ sympathy. Seo received many awards thanks to this work. At the tvN’s 10 Awards, she showed great affection for her role, saying, “There was nothing about her that I couldn’t understand.”
Afterward, she particularly came under the spotlight in the rom-com genre, including SBS’s Temperature of Love (2017) and JTBC’s The Beauty Inside (2018). In Temperature of Love, she played Lee Hyun Soo, an aspiring screenwriter who slowly opens her heart and goes beyond the superficial relationship. Then in The Beauty Inside, a drama version of the movie of the same name, she became Han Se Gye, whose body changes into a different person for one week a month. With such a role, Seo showcased colorful variations in her acting to suit the new faces. For SBS Dr. Romantic (2016-2017), she turned into passionate doctor Yoon Seo Jung and showed romance with Yoo Yeon Seok.
However, she showed a whole new side of herself with tvN’s Black Dog: Being A Teacher (2019-2020). The series looked at education through the eyes of a woman who gets a short-term teaching position. In the series, Seo played Go Ha Neul, the new short-term teacher who just loves her kids. To illustrate the reality of Korean education – discrimination between teachers, nepotism, and battle over entrance exams – she scrubbed the smile off of her face.
Now, Seo will return with another rom-com series. In tvN’s You Are My Spring, set to premiere on July 5th, she plays hotel concierge manager Kang Da Jung. She is a person who treats an inn she stayed in once, in Gangneung, as her mental retreat. Unlike Seo’s previous rom-com, You Are My Spring adds the thriller element of a murder case and paints out stories of those who have to face their own past.
In an interview, Seo expressed her wish to “play a character with specialized jobs like a prosecutor, a lawyer, or a con-artist who will knock other people off their pedestal.” And her next project is Why Oh Soo Jae?, which depicts the love story between a professor and a student. We have high hope for Seo Hyun Jin, who is gradually expanding the boundaries of genres and characters.
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.
SHE IS A GREAT ACTRESS!