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| Chae Si-ra | Kim Hee-seon | Kim Sung-ryoung |
By Kwon Ji-youn
Stars of the 1980s and 90s are back — and they're no longer the Cinderellas they used to be.
Actresses no longer in their twenties, including 47-year-old Chae Si-ra and 38-year-old Kim Hee-seon, are taking over the small screen, bewildering audiences with frizzy hair, little makeup and a lot of pent up anger.
And these actresses are no longer the wholesome and naive "ingenues" they once were. They've given an edge to their characters, with regretful pasts, miserable childhoods and undying ambition — the whole "troublemaker" package.
Kim appears on MBC's "Angry Mom" as a mom/high school student. Her character, Kang-ja, returns to high school disguised as a student who has been held back a few years so she can protect her daughter who has been the target of bullying.
Kim's transformation from sweet and innocent to fierce and energetic is turning heads. A single mom and former rabble-rouser, Kim will do anything to safeguard her daughter. She's at times childish and can seem a little flighty, but she will stop at nothing when she witnesses injustice _ in one scene, she takes a baseball bat and swings it about viciously to save another student from school violence.
Gone are the days when Kim wouldn't dare be seen without makeup or heels. She has crimped her hair to do the "mom" role justice and has passed up shadow and blusher to pull off a convincing high school student.
"Most of the acting that I used to do involved crying prettily," Kim said at a press event last week. "But in Angry Mom, there was a scene in which I was sobbing, and my nose was dripping. In the past, I would have asked for a redo, but now I think to myself, that's a true mom."
Chae too takes on the role of a single mother. Her character, Hyun-sook, on KBS's "Unkind Women," was expelled from school after being branded "a loose cannon" in high school, and gave birth at the age of 19. Even at 40, after her daughter has graduated from a prestigious university and become a professor, Chae finds herself escaping from a gambling crackdown in slippers and with mascara smudged around her eyes.
Chae, who has often taken on characters with charisma and ambition, is now nothing more than a nuisance.
"I've been searching for a role just like this," Chae said at a press event last month. "I've put everything down."
Actress Kim Sung-ryoung's character on MBC's "The Queen's Flower," has taken a new name for a chance at success. Rena Jung abandons her child to pursue a new dream, and in due time, becomes a star chef with her own cooking show. Kim, 48, is best known for her role as actor Lee Min-ho's mother on "The Heirs."
"Dramas and films that focus on the lives of women in their 30s and 40s are rare, but this particular drama does," she said at a press event earlier this month.
You Ho-jeong on SBS's "Heard It through the Grapevine," takes the part of a perfectionist who goes from ruthless to refined in a blink.
"These days, actresses in their 30s and 40s have both the looks and the acting skills to lure viewers and broadcasters alike," said an official at one broadcaster. "And the trend looks like it's here to stay for the time being."
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