Korea's Bad Hair Days
Welcome MDL to Otakusk's second article!
Baby Faced Beauty turned into the Nation's Little Sister.
It's Moon Geun Young, everyone!
A little history on our star:
Becoming an enthusiast of acting just after role playing at school, proved her determination to show Korea what she was made of! She begged her parents to send her off to an acting institute. However, her parents would only allow her if Kim Dae Jung won the election in 1997. Fortunately he did win the election, and after much hesitation, she enrolled in a school in Gwangju. Less than a year in, she was already cast as an extra for a television show! Now at twenty six years old, this 1.65M girl is one of Korea's top stars.
This is why I love her!
Young and destined to be a star
At just thirteen years old, Moon Geun Young debuted in her first drama for the supporting role as young Eun Suh in 2000.
This drama is a personal favorite of mine; it tells a tragedy of a 'switched at birth' story. The children are forced to return to their birth mothers when in reality all they want are the mothers that looked after them from birth. From there, a series of events takes place.
Moon Geun Young proved her acting to be worth watching in just three little episodes.
Still young and elegant
In 2001, her second supporting was role was again a character portraying the younger version of a main protagonist; in this case, Princess Suk Jong in the Ladies of Palace drama.
Blossoming actress
In the same year, she again portrayed the younger version of a princess in another historical drama titled Empress Myeong Syeong.
She has grown into quite the little lady, don’t you agree? By now, she showed the many sides of her acting and I personally think her talent of crying is what wins the director's hearts each time.
Farewell and here I come
Her last ever supporting role in a drama was in Wife, a family show before she finally hit the big screen.
MOVIES
Her first ever movie, also a documentary, in 1999 was On The Way. Although I have never heard of it nor watched it, just by the poster we can all tell that it must have been great. If you find anything about the movie or where I can watch it, please leave a comment as I haven’t found any information on it at all!
After just two years of acting as a supporting role in the drama industry, Moon Geun Young decided to try out the movies once again.
Her role in Lover’s Concerto was again a very minor role of being the main characters cute little sister.
However one year later, Moon Geun Young decided to take a different approach to her acting career by playing in the horror movie. A Tale of Two Sisters. Very different to a cute family movie. I haven't watched this one but just by the trailer, I was spooked out of my skin!
During 2004 to 2007, Moon Geun Young took a break from the dramas and concentrated on three very popular movies.
In My Little Bride, one of my favorite movies, she plays the cute and quirky role of a high school student. Why do I love this film? Moon Geun Young’s humor is something to look out for because she was hilarious. Her comedy side also played a fun romantic character which definitely has you cracking up by the end because she is simply adorable.
Her second movie was Innocent Steps. I personally wasn't a huge fan of the story line but Moon Geun Young once again showed her many talents in this one. Playing as an inexperienced dancer turning into a talented one, this film brought out the many skills that she hid for so many years. She can speak Chinese, that’s for sure!
She also played so romantically that the chemistry worked so well considering there was a huge age gap between the two actors. Lastly, she can dance! She probably trained really hard to achieve that samba dance because I was on my toes when she performed the final outcome.
Her last and final film was in Love Me Not. She played the cold hearted blind girl. I got to hand it to her, she can play almost any character!
2013 DRAMA GUEST APPEARANCE
RUNNING MAN
After seven years concentrating on dramas, she has proudly acted out in another drama as the guest role. I didn't even realize it! But Running Man is a 2013 variety show featuring our little star for a short moment.
Here's her on the FANCAM for Running Man.
DRAMAS
A Passionate painter
Returning to the drama screen was easy as one two three. Moon Geun Young suits historic dramas really well and that’s why she did a superb job in The Painter of the Wind in 2008.
Acting as a boy was a piece of cake for her because she really had quite a cheeky attitude to suit the role. It was almost natural for her. I absolutely adored all the raw heartfelt emotions in this one; Moon Geun Young did it again with her crying so emotionally as it brought back tears to my eyes again.
And I must point out that she makes a really handsome young boy, don’t you think? Personally, although this isn’t my favorite drama, I must hand it out to Moon Geun Young; this is one of her most exceptional acting roles ever!
Dark and Cold
Moon Geun Young played a character similar to the one in her first drama, Autumn In My Heart in this 2010 drama.
However, instead of acting out the poor and innocent girl with a tragic past all over again, there was a huge twist and we got to see her dark side.
Playing as Cinderalla’s step sister, our Moon Geun Young was quite cold due to her sad past with her mother and not having a stable home. But I couldn’t despise her character! She played it so well. Her arrogant airs and rebellious attitude brought something out so different.
I also loved how she grew her hair out! She was gorgeous looking and it really made her look very dark.
Quite different from our cutie, right?
Poor and innocent again
With the popular Jang Geun Suk, who else than to pick the lovely Moon Guen Young to play alongside with, in the rom-com drama, Mary Stayed Out All Night?
This light-hearted drama showed off our star as a cute young girl again who has just moved home to pay off her debts with her father. But then she finds out that she’s been married off to a handsome lad! Why does her heart tell her that she’s actually in love with her new best friend?
To be honest, I can’t get tired from watching her acting cute at all! She is the nation’s little sister after all!
It was a nice, fun and refreshing drama especially that MoonGeun Young was able to show it again.
In love for the money
One of her most recent dramas, Cheongdamdong Alice from 2012, is another rom-com drama that stars our little heroine as a hard working employee. She wants to be a designer but got the job for another reason.
I absolutely loved how she showed off her class and elegance in this one! But I simply can’t stand her cuteness!
Too much cuteness in one episode . . . I think this is an eye candy syndrome. But again she also showed a heartless side when she first took the job, but that was soon changed to love! *AWW*
This reminded be so much of The Devil Wears Prada and Moon Geun Young was like a little Anne Hathaway.
UPCOMING 2013
The series is about Baek Pa Seon’s life and love. She was the first and the best female potter in the Joseon Dynasty period. After she got kidnapped to Japan during a war, she demonstrated the superiority of Joseon potters in Japan. Depending on how well it is made, it can be as popular as Dae Jang Geum, which was very popular all over the world.
Another historical drama for our little star! This will sure show her off as an elegant beauty. I can't wait for it to air sometime in July, especially if it's with Kim Bum! 32 fantastical episodes full of history, drama and romance!
AWARDS
In December 2008, Moon won the Best Actress Award for her role as Shin Yoon-bok, Painter of the Wind, at the 2008 Grimae Awards Presented by the Korean Television Directors of Photography Association.
At the end of the year drama awards, Moon won the Daesang, Grand Prize award, the Best Couple Award with Moon Chae Won. She was amazed by the hard work that she made, and the Top 10 Star Award at the 2008 SBS Drama Awards held on December 31, 2008-January 1, 2009.
In February 2009, Moon won the Best Female Actress Award in a TV Series at the 44th Baeksang Awards. She was also very close to winning the popularity award by a very small 0.1% to Girls Generation's Yoona.
MODELLING
Other Notable Works
- On The Way (can be found at AsiaTorrents thanks to Crizbiii)
THANK YOU FOR READING!
If there is an actor or an actress that is worthy of a Stalker's Guide in your opinion, and you have watched enough dramas of his/hers to prove it, please contact Elisabetta about it.
