by Wiam Najjar, August 12, 2016
15

Time for your choices. This special edition is for those child actors you think nailed the acting stage.

Disclaimer: the actors mentioned in this series are not the best or the only talented Korean child actors out there. It is a small personal effort to introduce some of them to the world.

@aznative

Great talent. My personal favorite is Lee Chae-mi (2006).

bmore

love this, because I am in awe of so many of these children. The quality of their performances is mind boggling. Lee Chae-Mi in Two Weeks, Nam Da-Reum from 6 Dragons and Memory, quickly came to mind, but there are so many! Yeo Jin Goo is my personal favorite. Immense talent that child!

Lee Chae Mi (2006)

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Why did I watch Two Weeks?

For Lee Jun Ki

What made Two Weeks an emotional rollercoaster?

Lee Chae Mi

Those big round eyes of her looking up at her father are still vivid in my mind. Her optimism in the hospital gown. Her unconditional love for everyone. Her trust and smile.

Loved her in Plus Nine Boys. She played the proud young lady so cutely.

Seems like she presented quite a performance in Golden Rainbow, but I haven’t watched that yet, so I’m not sure.

@aznative, please tell us what is your favourite performance of her.


@HAVA-RAVA

Out of the child actors/actresses who are still under 18 (and haven't been mentioned on the comments yet) my favorites would be Jung Da Bin, Choi Ro Woon, Kal So Won and Hong Eun Taek & Hong Hyun Taek brothers ^^

There are many of course but those are the ones I remember the best :)

And I have to mention ALL the kids who were in Six Flying Dragons !

Jung Da Bin(2000)

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She’s been playing the child version of leads forever, young as she is. Liked her in all I’ve seen her in: poor and broken young Bong Soon in Iljimae, proud and scarred young Gong Jin Goo in Ugly Alert, the girl taking care of child Sung Joon in I Need Romance 3 (I know! I only remember that!), two roles in She Was Pretty. She has the personality. She has the energy. And she’s talented.


Choi Ro Woon (2007)

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Child Sung Joon that Jung Da Bin took care of ^^

He’s a ball of cuteness. Oh my god: his big eyes, round face and that sweet tone. Apart from I Need Romance 3, where he looked at Jung Da Bin with worship in his eyes, I saw him in Plus Nine Boys getting bullied around by Lee Chae Mi. Poor boy, he was so adorable.


Kal So Won (2006)

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This girl is a genre by herself. Miracle in Cell No. 7. That mind-blowing film. That emotionally draining performance. And that heartbreaking story. How did she do that? How could she be so real? So believable? So insanely natural? I was watching the film in my bedroom on my very bed alone and almost died choking on my tears. Especially when she was wiping away the tears of the brilliant actor Ryu Seung Ryong who played her father. I wouldn’t want to be in her place for life, not the character in the story and not the child actress playing it. I think I would bow to her in respect if I ever saw her.

And if you had watched Medical Top Team, you’d know Miracle was not a one-time performance. The girl is a gem.


Park Si Eun (2001)

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I hate Six Flying Dragons. I hate it so much that I put it on hold and I lack the courage to pick it up.

When I say I hate something so much, it means I’m so in love with it that I hate what it does to me.

But I really hate the writer and director.

**SPOILER**
I understand that for the development of the character of
Yeon Hee the rape scene was needed, essential even. But. Like. Really? Did they
have to shoot it that way? Did it have to be such a young tender lovely girl? What’s
wrong with her parents having her play that role? I can’t look at the actor who
played the rapist when I’m simply a watcher. How could she? Those kids are not
of this world. I’m in awe of them. I fear for them at the same time.

End of spoiler

By the way *whispering* Am I the only one who thinks she did a better job than Jung Yoo Mi? Don't tell anyone I said that!

She’s in The Good Wife now playing the torn apart kid. She wants her family together but she hates her father for what he does. I can totally feel her.


@Ding Dong

no kwak dong yeon? he is same age as yeo jin goo, it seems nobody knows him

Kwak Dong Yeon (1997)

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Of course I know him! But he’s so gorgeous that I sometimes forget that he's not even 20 yet!  Ain’t he just hot, cute and cool at the same time? One shouldn’t be that perfect.

In the three works I've watched him in, he captured my heart. Honestly, looking at him is pure comfort. He has a face that’s so easy to look at. In Junior High Student Ayang and Adolescence Medley, he played the cooped-up-in-his-own-problems adorable teenager. He had to break his shell and walk out for his love for two lovely young ladies played by older actresses. Lee Yeol Eum in Junior High Student Ayang was 18 (she’s another child actress I haven’t talked about yet. But I think she needs a lot of work and time before she reaches the level of our heroes here), while Lee Se Young was 20 when she acted in Adolescence Medley,  with years of experience as an actress who started as a child as well. Dong Yeon was 16! And guess what! He nailed it.

Not many people liked the kind of comedy presented in Modern Farmer or the camera work. Many found them exaggerated to the point of being annoying. Well, I didn’t. And I loved Dong Yeon there the best. He was hilarious in his utter cluelessness. He stood there receiving all the emotional and physical blows like he was watching them happen to another person. His performance was different from the other three male leads and that added much flavour to the show. Now that he’s becoming an adult, he’ll break many ladies’ hearts.


@bmore

This little tyke blew me away in Marriage Contract https://mydramalist.com/people/11169-shin-rin-ah

As did this one in Two Weeks. https://mydramalist.com/people/5393-lee-chae-mi

But I said before you could probably go on indefinitely. I know there are others, but my old head won't dredge them out right now. The pool is deep with these tiny thespians and their abilities amaze.

Shin Rin Ah(2009)

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Sorry Bernie but I haven’t watched Marriage Contract. I actually dropped it after episode one but after what everybody said about it, I might pick it up again. And if you say this little child blew you away in it, it means it’s a great show.

I watched her in the unrepeatable experience Endless Love as Esther. Her mother’s and ‘’father’s’’ way of looking at her, talking about her, how she came to life, what happened to her and her mother and what she had to go through hurt me more than her own performance. I will need to watch Marriage Contract.


I'm officially done with this series. I hate goodbyes. *tears* but I'll be back again. Let's stay together and watch over these pretty soul trying to survive in a world that many adults couldn't survive. Adieus.