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| Actress Jin Ki-joo / Courtesy of Tving & CJ ENM |
By Kwak Yeon-soo
Actress Jin Ki-joo had chosen a different path in life before breaking into the entertainment industry. She worked at Samsung SDS, an IT service unit of Samsung Group, for three years before moving on to become a journalist.
From the moment she decided to get into acting, she never looked back. Although there were many skeptics, the actress put in a lot of effort to pursue important opportunities.
In 2018, she appeared alongside rising actors Kim Tae-ri and Ryu Jun-yeol in director Yim Soon-rye's touching film, "Little Forest," which gave her a chance to show off her talent to audiences.
Later, the 32-year-old actress landed a major role in the TV series "Come and Hug Me" (2018) and "Homemade Love Story" (2020). Her first leading role on the big screen will be the upcoming thriller "Midnight," which is likely to boost her career even further.
In "Midnight" she plays a deaf woman named Kyung-mi who engages in a battle of wits with serial killer Do-sik (Wi Ha-jun). After Kyung-mi witnesses a crime, Do-sik begins to stalk her.
"I hadn't really thought about the significance of my first leading role in a movie. Due to filming taking place at night and consisting of a lot of chase scenes, it was physically demanding. My knees hurt so much, because I was running all over the place," she said during an interview with The Korea Times via Zoom, Thursday.
She added: "Playing a deaf character in a thriller was far more challenging than I thought, so I did my best to portray Kyung-mi's character clearly on-screen."
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| Jin Ki-joo, left, in a scene from "Midnight" / Courtesy of Tving & CJ ENM |
To learn sign language, Jin attended a private academy for two months.
"At first, I considered visiting a deaf community center or a specialized school for disabled children, but I feared that they might get upset by my visit. I didn't want to offend them or waste their time for my benefit. So instead, I chose to attend a private academy briefly," she explained.
During that time, Jin realized that deaf people keep their eyes fixed on faces, not hand movements. "It was hard for me to maintain eye contact with others instead of trying to read their hand movements. I hope more people became aware of this fact," she said.
Jin also confessed that she did a lot of image training because she is sensitive to sounds.
"I worried that my body would react naturally to the surrounding sounds. I wasn't sure if I could fully abandon my hearing capability. But when we were shooting, no matter how loud others shouted or made noises, I was not emotionally affected," she said.
The actress also opened up about how her appearces in tvN's talk show "You Quiz" comforted her and how working in various jobs has given her much-needed experience.
"After appearing on that show, I gained considerable new support and attention. Of course, I had a lot of fans who supported my journey, but there were people who were skeptical about my creative aspirations and unsupportive of my transition," she said.
"Some people tell me that I should have started acting earlier, but I don't have any regrets. I believe being a good actor requires experience, so I'm grateful for the fact that I worked in different industries."
"Midnight" will be released simultaneously on Korean streaming platform Tving and in theaters on June 30.
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