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[in no particular order]
PLEASE REFER ORIGINAL SOURCE (LINK PROVIDED BELOW) FOR ACTIVE LINKS OF YOUTUBE CLIPS, ETC
Arjun Rampal
He's worked in Bollywood for the last eight years, managed to steer attention away from Shah Rukh Khan even when sporting gray hair and glasses, and just finished shooting a new commercial with Nicole Kidman. The ad (for a carbonated water and ginger ale beverage company) is produced by Ridley Scott and directed by Shekhar Kapur. YouTube clip: A sweet musical number in an otherwise stressful thriller, 2005's Yakeen, costarring Priyanka Chopra.
Daniel Henney
No stranger to memorable commercials with leading Hollywood ladies, Daniel Henney is the Chicago-born actor who became a superstar in Korea, without even speaking Korean. A Best Actor "Rising Star" award for his film My Father hinted that he could actually act, which bodes well for his expectant American fans who are just waiting for him to come back. YouTube clip: a Bravo ice cream commerical that dares to test whether Henney's hotness can make you forget there's a cover of "Mmmbop" playing in the background.
Takeshi Kaneshiro
Takeshi Kaneshiro. The reason Hong Kong is smarter than the rest of the world because their Armani ad campaign decided to plaster Takeshi Kaneshiro billboards all around town. Most known in the West for House of Flying Daggers and the two Wong Kar-wai films Chungking Express and Fallen Angels, Kaneshiro recently showed that he can also embody the role of legendary strategist Zhuge Liang. YouTube clips: The only thing better than Takeshi Kaneshiro is four Takeshi Kaneshiros and Takeshi Kaneshiro multiplying beyond count.
Won Bin
While only 32, Won Bin has been acting in Korea for over 13 years. He garnered international recognition in 2004 with Taegukgi: The Brotherhood of War, but true fans find him hottest as Han Tae-suhk in the TV drama Autumn Tale. YouTube clip: I don't know what Forval is, but I don't care.
Hayami Mokomichi
Half-Japanese and half-Filipino, Mokomichi is known for his roles on Japanese TV dramas such as Densha Otoko and Tokyo Tower. In his popular Zettai Kareshi (Absolute Boyfriend) series, he plays the Night Tenjo, "the perfect male humanoid programmed to be devoted and completely loyal to his lover." YouTube clip: The boy knows how to sell a pair of acid-washed jeans.
Hrithik Roshan
It's true that his forte is the dance, and Hollywood tends to not prioritize the art of the jaw-dropping dance number in their contemporary films. (Not yet, at least.) Luckily, Hrithik is also very good at standing still and wielding a sword (a little more useful), not to mention carrying a three-hour film while taking the audience through laughter, suspense, tears, and above all... love. Roshan already has Hollywood representation with Brillstein-Grey Entertainment, but is reportedly being choosy about his crossover role. YouTube clip: He wears a suit well too, with or without the jacket.
Dennis Oh
Born in Texas, Dennis Oh started to rise in popularity around the same time as Daniel Henney, another option for girls who appreciate broader shoulders. So far he's acted in the TV dramas: Sweet Spy, Manyeo Yuhee, and East of Eden. YouTube clip: Gotta go with the modeling shot.
Lee Byung-hun
His eyes talk, is a comment made from one of our collaborators. Steadily working in Korea for over 15 years, his memorable films include Joint Security Area, Bittersweet Life, and The Good, the Bad, and the Weird. Good news for Hollywood fans: Lee has a role in the upcoming G.I. Joe: The Rise of the Cobra, where he plays a character named Storm Shadow. YouTube clip: It's good to be chivalrous and romance a lady with a waltz, but it's also important to catch important beverages before they fall.
Junichi Okada
To be honest, we were hesitant about incuding an actor associated with Johnny's, but we made an exception with Junichi Okada. The powerful agency Johnny & Associates trains and represents the male idols in Japan, and while there are lots of very cute pop stars that come out of that professional family, we weren't sure that was what we were going for. However, Okada makes us remember that even Takeshi Sorimachi and Departures star Masahiro Motoki started out in a Johnny's '80s boy band. And look where they are now. YouTube clip: What a smooth way to endear yourself to women, as everyone knows food (especially chocolate) is the way to a girl's heart.
Chang Chen
When he shows up in the middle of Wong Kar-wai's Happy Together, we suddenly understand how one unassuming man in a baseball cap can give a broken soul a reason for hope. Since then he's seduced Gong Li in Eros, thrice romanced Shu Qi in Three Times, and joined Tony Leung and Takeshi Kaneshiro in Red Cliff. YouTube clip: No one makes a hot man even hotter better than Wong Kar Wai. Here is the Wong-directed DJ Shadow video, "Six Days."
[We're cheating. Number 11:]
Ji-Ho Oh
A last minute addition, we thought our list was complete until we found an actor that was too hot to overlook. Having acted in Korean TV shows since 2001, including Super Rookie and Couple or Trouble, Ji-Ho Oh can currently be seen starring in Queen of Housewives. He's won multiple MBC and KBS Drama awards, including the Popularity Award in 2006. YouTube clip: After a session at the recording studio, this music video showcases clips from his 2008 drama, Single Dad in Love.
Compiled by Rowena Aquino, Kanara Ty, and Ada Tseng.
Suggestions by other members of our staff appreciated but respectfully ignored.
Date Posted: 5/1/2009 via asiaarts.ucla.edu |
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May 7, 2009
Choi Min soo cast in U.S. movie
Actor Choi Min-soo, back from self-imposed exile in the Namyangoo Mountains, has been cast in a Hollywood action film to be released this October. According to his wife Kang Joo-eun, Choi began filming last month in Denver, Colorado.
Titled "Serpent Rising," the film follows a former secret agent - played by Korean-American stuntman-turned actor Julian - who is forced to come out of retirement when a former confidant dies on his doorstep delivering blueprints to a top-secret military project.
Choi will play the lead's arch-nemesis and government stooge, Carl Kim.
Last April, the 47-year-old veteran actor was charged with assault on a 73-year-old man who had lashed out at the actor for cursing at a heavily congested street in Itaewon.
Tempers flared when the war of words between the two escalated and Choi became physically violent towards the old man. When witnesses recognized the "Hour Glass" actor, he tried to flee. To prevent Choi from getting away, the man jumped aboard the hood of Choi's vehicle and rode it for about 300m until police sprang into action.
Choi, though acquitted of the charges last June, went into a self-imposed exile deep into the mountainous woods in Namyangjoo, Gyeonggi Province, which he said was his way of repentance.
Credits: [email protected] via koreaherald.co.kr
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May 7, 2009
S. Korean director selected as jury member of Swiss film fest
SEOUL, May 7 (Yonhap) -- International award-winning South Korean director Hong Sang-soo has been selected as a jury member of the upcoming Locarno International Film Festival, the event's organizers said Thursday.
Hong will be taking part as a jury member of the festival's international competition section along with French director Pascal Bonitzer, German actress Nina Hoss and Spanish producer Louis Minaro.
The 48-year-old filmmaker won two international honors with his debut "The Day a Pig Fell into the Well (1996)," and is considered one of the most widely recognized South Korean directors in the global film society.
His newest release "Like You Know It All" has also been invited to a non-competition juror section of the Cannes International Film Festival.
The Locarno film fete, which celebrates its 61st anniversary this year, will run from Aug. 5-15 in the Swiss city. Organizers have yet to announce the lineup for the event.
Credits: [email protected] via yonhapnews.co.kr
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May 6, 2009
Hallyu Becoming Global Cultural Icon
By Kang Hyun-kyung
Staff Reporter
Professor Park Jung-sook, left, listens to a presentation during a session
of the World Civic Forum 2009 at COEX in southern Seoul, Wednesday. The four-day forum,
organized by Kyung Hee University in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economic
and Social Affairs, is to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the founding of the university. Next to her
is Park Ki-tae, director of the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea, and Kolleen Park, president and artistic
director of Kyyk Musical / Korea Times Photo by Shim Hyun-chul
Hallyu, the Korean wave, is the 21st century version of the Silk Road which once served as a conduit for trade and cultural exchanges between the East and the West, a journalist-turned-culture specialist said Wednesday.
Prof. Park Jung-sook of the Institute of International Education at Kyung Hee University forecast that hallyu will "no longer be a uniquely Korean phenomenon," indicating it could become a global cultural icon. "Spurred by advanced information technology, particularly Web 2.0, hallyu, which used to be a tiny bud, has finally become a flower in full bloom in the post-Cold War era," she emphasized in a presentation during the Cultural Dialogue for a Multilateral Society session of the World Civic Forum 2009 at COEX in southern Seoul.
The four-day forum, a joint initiative of Kyung Hee University in collaboration with the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, aims to explore the possibility of forging public and private partnerships for just societies. The event ends tomorrow. Wednesday's forum had morning and afternoon sessions, and participants of the morning session exchanged their views on fostering humanitarian culture through children.
Joining the morning session were Wakako Hironaka, member of the House of Councilors of Japan; Rep. Hong Jung-wook of the governing Grand National Party (GNP); Janice Lyn Marshall, representative of UNHCR Korea Office; and June Kunugi, director of UNICEF Tokyo. GNP lawmaker Lee Hye-hoon chaired the session. During the afternoon session, policymakers, academics and civic group leaders explored the way how "cultural sharing" works in connecting the world with the topic of cultural dialogue for multilateral society. Kim Jung-sup, dean of the university's Institute of International Education, chaired the session, and Michelle M.S. Kim, also from the university, served as a moderator.
Park, one of four panelists, presented the so-called "organic power" that she coined to refer to the unique Korean wave as a cultural phenomenon. A former broadcast journalist, Park insisted people living in different countries and continents came to "recognize each other's cultural tastes in a free and organic fashion based on their own preferences."
Also joining the afternoon session were Lee Chan-buom, director general of the Presidential Council on Nation Branding; Kolleen Park, president and artistic director of Kyyk Musical; and Park Ki-tae, director of the Voluntary Agency Network of Korea. Park, who concurrently serves as goodwill ambassador of The Korea Times, characterized organic power as a bottom-up approach in an effort to highlight the major difference between her terminology and soft power, which was coined by Prof. Joseph S. Nye Jr. of Harvard University.
Nye defined soft power as the ability to obtain what you want through attraction that includes culture. Park argued soft power is a top-down-based approach, and there is a major difference between organic power and soft power. "There are countless stories indicating the role that hallyu played in changing the way foreigners perceive Korea," Park noted.
Empirical studies backed the positive effect of the Korean wave on foreigners' perceptions of Korea. A local polling agency Net Intelligence & Research conducted two public opinion surveys of Chinese people in 2004 and 2006, respectively to see if there had been any change in their perceptions of Korea before and after their exposure to Korean soap operas. In 2004, 68 percent of Chinese answered they had ever watched Korean TV dramas, and the rate two years later found an increase of 24 percentage points, standing at 92.2 percent.
The surveys found approximately 60 percent of Chinese who had been exposed to Korean dramas came to have a positive image of the country. The same agency also conducted polls twice during the same period in Japan, and found a similar trend had occurred in the country as well. In 2004, about 61 percent of Japanese said they had watched Korean dramas and the rate in two years rose to 67.7 percent.
About 42.5 percent of Japanese said their perception and impression of Korea has changed in a positive manner after they watched Korean dramas. The Korean wave started in mid-1990s mainly in China and Japan, then gradually went to other Asian countries and further on to other continents. Over the past decade, policymakers have sought the role of government to link the cultural boom to trade, but their efforts have produced few tangible outcomes.
Park said, "The government should not be overly interventionist because of possible negative fallouts on an essentially creative process where private sector players, such as artists and businesspeople, are involved in." "Also, the role of government should not be overt because injecting too much nationalism into a non-political, consumer-driven process will eventually draw a backlash from people living in other continents." Despite the complexity, Park asserted that there is certainly a way that can help avoid the backlash.
She demonstrated how the alternative scheme that she had in mind worked by presenting UCC featuring a poem titled "Flowers" one of Koreans' favorite poems written by Kim Chun-soo, with background music and visual elements. By connecting Internet to a storytelling device, her presentation suggested a new opportunity for hallyu as a global cultural product, through which suppliers and consumers can meet and interact with each other.
Credits: hkang@koreatimes.co.kr |
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May 7, 2009
Director Hong Invited as Judge in Locarno Fest
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Director Hong Sang-soo
South Korean director Hong Sang-soo has been invited to be a judge at the Locarno International Film Festival in Italy, festival organizers announced Thursday. The 62nd edition of the premier Italian film festival will open in Locarno, Switzerland, from August 5 to 15.
The "Night and Day" director will judge films in the International Competition section alongside French screenwriter and filmmaker Pascal Bonitzer, noted German actress Nina Hoss and Catalan producer Luis Minarro.
Meanwhile, Hong's latest short film "Lost in the Mountains" was featured as part of an omnibus digital project in the 10th Jeonju International Film Festival, "the Locarno of Asia," which ends today. "Like You Know It All," the latest feature by the minimal realist, starring top local stars Ko Hyun-joung and Kim Tae-woo, will be shown in the out-of-competition section of the Cannes Film Festival, from May 13 to 24.
Last year, Korean newcomer Noh Young-seok received special mention at the festival with his feature debut "Daytime Drinking." Locarno is recognized as discovering new industry trends and launching the careers of esteemed filmmakers such as Stanley Kubrick, Milos Forman, Spike Lee and Kim Ki-duk.
Credits: hyowlee@koreatimes.co.kr |
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News Index page 6
May 7, 2009: Seo Tai-ji in First Nationwide Tour in 5 Years
May 8: Farewell, my darling, I'm off to serve my country
May 8: Korea Film Council Plans to Nurture the Local Movie Industry
May 8: Domestic movies see increased audience in April: report
May 8: 慖抦 not a druggie, |
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May 7, 2009
Seo Tai-ji in First Nationwide Tour in 5 Years
Seo Tai-ji
Pop legend Seo Tai-ji is embarking on his first nationwide tour in five years on June 13. "The M鯾ius" includes concerts in nine cities and is the first since his "Zero" tour in 2004.
The keywords of his eighth album were "truth" and "lies," so it will be interesting to see what message he tries to convey through the infinite M鯾ius strip that connects the opposite sides. Wrapping up promotion of his album with the tour, he will play all songs listed on the record as well as some of new songs that will be featured on his next album to be released in early June.
With the huge production cost invested, "The M鯾ius" will be the biggest show to date from sound to special effects to stage, lighting and display, a Seo Tai-ji Company spokesman said.
Credits: english@chosun.com |
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May 8, 2009
Farewell, my darling, I'm off to serve my country
Lee Jin-wook bid farewell to his fans and long-term girlfriend as he went off for mandatory military service this Wednesday. The 28-year-old actor, who postponed enlistment last year because he was appearing in SBS-TV's "City of Glass," waved to 100 well-wishing supporters at the 306th draft in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi.
Many were hoping Choi Ji-woo, Lee's girlfriend of two years, would show up at Uijeongbu to say goodbye, but the actress was nowhere to be seen.
Lee will serve for two years, leaving fans, and presumably Choi, anticipating his return in 2011.
Source: joongangdaily.joins.com |
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May 8, 2009
Korea Film Council Plans to Nurture the Local Movie Industry
From 2011, part of the price of a ticket to a Korean film will help fund the making of new films. Three percent of box-office sales, which is around W30 billion a year, goes to the Korean film development fund, and half of the proceeds going to the fund will be redistributed to film-makers.
The Korea Film Council on Wednesday announced a plan to promote the film industry. The new system will be introduced in 2011, and when predicting the market share of Korean films at 50 percent, about W7.5 billion will be redistributed. The Korea Film Council will also form another W100 billion fund by 2012 to export Korean films to the global market.
The Korea Film Council also announced its plan to develop the "3D" market, encompassing digital downloading, DVD, and documentary markets, until 2012. The council aims to grow the annual legal downloading market to W200 billion, and revive the currently dying DVD market from its current W250-billion value to W600 billion by 2012.
Credits: englishnews@chosun.com
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May 8, 2009
Domestic movies see increased audience in April: report
SEOUL, May 8 (Yonhap) -- South Korean movies were greeted by an increased number of local audiences last month, a report said Friday, signaling renewed hope for the domestic film industry hit by an ongoing economic downturn and a deluge of Hollywood blockbusters.
Backed by two local box office hits -- "My Girlfriend Isn't an Agent" and "Private Eye" -- domestic movies took up 47.4 percent of the April film market with some 3.7 million in ticket sales, according to CJ CGV, South Korea's largest film distributor and multiplex chain.
The market share of local movies increased by 24.3 percentage points from the same period last year and 9.6 percentage points from March, the report added.
"Private Eye" and "My Girlfriend Isn't an Agent" drew the largest number of moviegoers last month, seeing accumulated ticket sales of 1.8 million and 1 million, respectively.
Credits: [email protected] via yonhapnews.co.kr |
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May 8, 2009
慖抦 not a druggie, |
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May 8, 2009
'Lost' star invited to represent Korean culture
Kim Yun-jin, star of the hit TV series 揕ost, |
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May 7, 2009
G-Dragon Takes Part in w-inds. Album
G-Dragon of Big Bang did a featuring for the single album of Japanese group w-inds. W-inds. won the best Asia pop artist award at the 2006 Mnet KMTV Music Festival and the best Asian singer award at the 5th Asia Song Festival in 2008.
The Japanese group has shown interest in several Korean musicians and asked G-Dragon to do a rap featuring for their new single 揜ain is Falling/ HYBRID Dream |
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May 8, 2009
Cannes Screening for Film "Mother" Set
Director Bong Joon-ho抯 new film 揗other |
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Thanks to the highlight by deka_if at soompi.com, especially for the captures
May 6, 2009
Cultural Circle Rediscovers Mother
A girl arrives home, and her mother immediately begins to prepare dinner. But the daughter isn抰 interested in what her mother is doing. She isn抰 hungry at all and, actually, her mother annoys her, constantly meddling in every matter and coddling her.
This is a scene from the stage play entitled 揗other Discovers Sea at Fifty |
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Following is an excerpt of a letter written by the younger daughter in the story.
揈ven as I live as a mother, I have so many dreams
I still remember my childhood, girlhood and maidenhood
I haven抰 forgotten any of them and still remember them
Why did I regard mother as simply mom from the beginning?
How could I not have thought about my mother抯 dream? |
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May 8, 2009
Actor Sul and Actress Song to Marry on May 28
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Actor Sul Kyung-gu, 41, and actress Song Yun-ah, 36, will marry on May 28.
The renowned actor and actress plan to announce their scheduled wedding at Litz-Carlton Hotel in southern Seoul Saturday at 4 p.m.
They made up their mind to marry, following a recent greeting session of their families, a close source of the couple said. "We appeared together in two films but we started dating in fall of 2007 in full scale," said Actress Song. "We spontaneously got to have mind to get marry each other."
Actor Sul earlier married his senior actor An Nae-sang's sister in 1996 when he acting in the theater. However, he divorced in 2006, four years of estranged life. "Sul has lived alone since 2002, when he was shooting a film, Jail Breaker, as main actor as his wife lived in Canada. He has never lived together although his wife returned in 2005," said a spokesman of the agency of Actor Sul.
Sol is is best known for his roles in the popular Public Enemy and Silmido. He studied film and theater at Hanyang University and upon graduation took part in mostly theatrical productions.
He displayed his marvelous acting skills in Palme d'Or nominated and Silver Lion winning director Lee Chang-dong's Peppermint Candy, in which he is a suicidal man devastated by the two-decades of historical change his country undergoes and as a mildly mentally-retarded outcast with sociopathic inclinations in Oasis, two groundbreaking films that started the Korean new wave film movement.
Song is a renowned model-turned actress. She spent most of her childhood days in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province. She graduated with a Humanities Degree at the Hanyang University. Song, as an aspiring actress, made her debut in the 1995 KBS drama Age of Individuality.
She later became a well-known icon by co-starring in the mbc drama Hotelier. Song is also part-time lecturer at the Korean Central Academy of Fine Arts. Her movie, Face is supposed to have already been completed somewhere around this August.
Source: koreatimes.co.kr |
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May 8, 2009
Actors Sul, Song to Tie Knot on May 28
By Lee Hyo-won
Staff Reporter
Actors Song Yun-a, left, and Sul Kyung-gu,
who co-starred in the 2006 movie 揕ost in Love, |
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May 8, 2009
Actor Park Shin-yang Wins Legal Battle
By Park Si-soo
Staff Reporter
Park Shin-yang
Actor Park Shin-yang won his lawsuit against a drama production firm for a performance fee.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled Friday that the drama production agency should pay 386 million won ($306,700) to Park for starring in four additional episodes of the hit TV drama "War of Money" in 2007.
The 41-year-old filed the suit against the agency last December after it refused to pay the contracted fee for the additional episodes. The agency alleged Park tried to capitalize on the drama's high popularity by asking for too much money. It also claimed the fee he had received per regular episode be equally applied to the additional episodes because they are part of the drama.
In 2006, Park signed a contract with the company worth 45 million won per episode of the drama, initially made up of 16 episodes. As the drama enjoyed high popularity, the company decided to film four extra episodes. Park agreed to appear in the extra productions in exchange for 155 million won per episode.
Judge Park Gi-joo said in the ruling, "The two contracts are independent cases, meaning the first one cannot influence the second contract. The new fee set three times higher than original one is legally acceptable."
Since last December when the suit made headlines, Park has come under fire for demanding too much money from penny-pinching drama production agencies. Corea Drama Production Association banned Park from appearing in any dramas produced by members of the association for an indefinite period.
Following the decision, about 5,600 overseas fans issued a joint protest statement to denounce the decision.
Credits: pss@koreatimes.co.kr |
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May 9, 2009
At 21, Younha Is Ready to Act Her Age
Singer Younha
Singer Younha is off to a good start with her third album titled " Peace, Love & Ice Cream," a record full of cheerful and lilting tunes.
When she released her debut album in 2007, Younha always appeared in full make-up and clothes that made her look several years older. Now she is 21, what has changed? "When I made my debut at 19 in March 2007, I hated the fact that everyone saw me as a little girl. I intentionally wore heavy, smoky make-up, and wore trousers because I felt that people were not taking my music seriously because I was young," she says. "After three years, I think I'm free from that complex, so I thought it would be now okay to sing about what I really like even though it is childish, like peace, love and ice cream. I think it抯 okay to act like a 21-year-old."
"Many people asked me how I could write these songs since I'm so young, thinking there must be very little I know about love. But in fact I've been in love a number of times, probably appropriate for my age. I don't write about things that I haven't experienced because I can't sing just from my imagination. I think I need to experience more love and heartbreak to have a long career as a singer."
Younha said when she first went to Japan, she thought she would be just like BoA. "But after my debut, I feel it is more important to know where I stand, instead of being a superstar with a flashy career. It's important to sing what I like to sing, but it抯 also important to know what people want to listen to. I feel a responsibility to make people happy at least for the moment they listen to my songs, and I would be really happy if that happens."
Credits: englishnews@chosun.com |
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Author
