Messed Up Characters

When playing a seriously messed up character it seems easy to over act the part, because so many people do it. I'm not going to say any names, but King2Hearts has one. Anyway, I thought, 'Hey there has to be other people out there who like a good messed up character.' So here's a list of guys that I think have managed to pull it off.

Soul is a Korean show about Ha Na, a girl who becomes possessed by the ghosts of girls who have died horrible deaths--including her twin sister. Because of this, she gets entangled with a twisted criminal psychoanalyst who uses her to kill criminals, who have escaped the law.

The show didn't impress me much, but it did make me a fan of Park Geon Il. The only reason I finished was thanks to Park Geon Il's performance as Jung Shi Woo.

Jung Shi Woo starts out as a quiet boy who gets bullied at school. Ha Na comes to his rescue and they develop a friendship.

I didn't like him in the beginning because he was so weak, but you soon realize he's just as messed up as everyone else in this show. Even though he was sick, twisted and had no problem stabbing people, I ended up loving him. The main reason being, he was constantly there for Ha Na throughout the whole show. I felt so bad for him because even though he liked her so much, she never completely returned his feelings.


I would say his acting outshined the other actors on the show. He made the character feel very real with all the emotions that he displayed.



The Good, The Bad, The Weird is a Korean movie about two outlaws and one bounty hunter fighting over a map that leads to treasure, all while being chased and harassed by Chinese bandits and the Japanese army.

This movie was definitely a little weird, but totally hilarious. It's a movie that I really enjoyed. The biggest reason, Lee Byung Hun as Park Do Wan.

Park Do Wan is one of the outlaws. He leads his own group, which robs trains and shoots up towns. Typical bad guy stuff. I think the thing I loved about the character the most was his bad guy complex. He wanted people to know him as the best bad guy out there. There's a part where a member of his group mentions hearing about a guy more sick and twisted than Park Do Wan. In that moment, you could actually see Park Do Wan Tweak!

Lee Byung Hun really saved this movie. I became a fan of him because of this role, the way he played the character was perfect! He had me cheering for the bad guy the whole time.



Channel-X is a Taiwanese drama about An Zai Young, a news anchor who was about to expose a huge corporate scandal, but gets arrested for the murder of his fiancé instead. He ends up having no where to turn to; his only option being the annoying Channel-X. He and Channel-X reporter Hong Xiao Lu work to uncover the truth of things, as they dig they realize just how deep the corruption goes.

Unlike the first two, this show would have been really good even without Lu Ting Wei as Chen Jia Liang. The fact that he played a good messed up character just made it all the better.

Chen Jia Liang is brought in to run BIGTV News, the TV station where An Zai Young worked. He is a somewhat young and rash character who would rather just get rid of the problem than try to work through it. I would say he's messed up mostly because of the air he gave off. He just seemed messed up. Oh and the part where he tries to kill his niece--totally messed up!


Mars is a Taiwanese drama, about Han Qi Luo, who is an extremely shy and talented art student with a traumatic past. She meets Chen Ling, a motorcycle racing playboy who happens to go to the same college as her, in the park when he asks her for directions. Eventually they fall in love, if only it were as simple as that. They are constantly challenged by the demons of their respective pasts coming back to haunt them both, or the people around them not being able to stand them together.

Tong Dao is a character that comes in the show a little bit later than everyone else. He becomes obsessed with Chen Ling, and throughout the show, he tries to get Chen Ling to go over the edge. He even tries to get Chen Ling to kill him. If that's not messed up I don't know what is!

I think just about anyone who's seen this show will agree with me in saying An Jun Can played a great messed up character. The show in itself was an emotional roller coaster from start to finish. So why not add an obsessed psycho to it, just for the extra hint of drama? Works for me.



Open City is a Korean movie about police officer Jo Dae-yeong, who has been investigating a group of pickpockets. He ends up saving Baek Jang-mi who just so happens to be the leader of the pickpockets he's investigating. Open City is actually not one of my favorite movies; didn't like how it ended. However, I did like Shim Ji Ho's character Antenna.

Antenna is Baek Jang-mi's knife wielding right hand man, unafraid to do the dirty work. He has a one sided love with Baek Jang-mi. When Baek Jang-mi starts a relationship with Jo Dae-yeong, Antenna's jealousy begins to show.

Shim Ji Ho played the character so well! I loved Antenna so much, I finished the movie just so I could see what happened to him. I couldn't have cared less about the main characters.



The Man from Nowhere is a Korean movie about a quiet former assassin who owns a pawn shop in an apartment complex. He goes on a violent rampage against a drug dealer to save a little girl. The movie itself was just "okay", not very heavy on the plotline in my opinion.

Kim Sung Oh plays Jong Suk, the brother of the drug dealer, and I would say he's the main bad guy. He kidnaps the girl and her mother, because the mother stole some kind of drug from him. Then, he kills the mother. He really is a messed up character, even his laugh was sick. I thought him being burned alive seemed like an appropriate end for him.



A Man's Story is a Korean show about Kim Shin, a man with almost nothing and his battle against Chae Do Woo, the leader of a huge company.

Kim Kang Woo plays Chae Do Woo, who is responsible for Kim Shin's brother's dumpling factory going out of business. This event ultimately caused Kim Shin's brother to go into debt and then kill himself. When confronted Chae Do Woo sees no problem. Chae Do Woo is the perfect messed up character, never really having a problem with how he got things done.

One of the best shows I've watched so far. I kept going back and forth; first I wanted the good guy to win, then I wanted the bad guy to win. Kim Kang Woo played his part so well, no matter how messed up his character was, there was always a small part of me that wanted him to win.