There are K-Drama fans across the globe who share the same passion. But on online platforms, it is hard to know about each other’ stories and tastes. Even if we are in the same fandom, it is hard to get to know each other. So at Kpopmap, we started the Kpopmap Fan Interview Project to get to know more about K-Drama fans from different countries. Just like the Kpopmap Fan Interview for idols, the Kpopmap Fan Interview for actors aims to open the opportunity for fans to promote, talk about, and share their love for their favorite actor/actress with our readers. Viola from Hungary is the next fan to answer our questions about her favorite actor. She is a fan of Lee SooHyuk! Check out how she became his fan, the reasons why she is a fan, the dramas she recommends, and much more insights about Lee SooHyuk. Can you introduce yourself? Where are you from? Greetings to dear readers! My name is Viola - although I use the nickname “Dimma” more often on social sites. I am Hungarian and I started to watch Korean dramas around three years ago… I became a bit addicted to them. But it’s a nice and harmless addiction. This is the first time that I have taken part in such a fun thing like making an interview… Great that I can do this, thanks to Kpopmap! Who is your favorite Korean actor/actress? And how and when did you become a fan? Lee SooHyuk is my favourite actor for two years now. To be honest, he wasn’t my very first favourite, but luckily I found him quite early after my “rookie year” in K-Drama world. It happened somewhere in May of 2020 that I decided to watch “Scholar Who Walks the Night”. I was curious about another popular actor actually, but yeah… There was Gwi - Lee SooHyuk as the cruel vampire lord… I was amazed by the visual appearance of him? Not really. He impressed me with his distinctive acting style. A bit later - before I would have finished “Scholar Who Walks the Night”- I read something negative about “Born Again”. At that time I didn’t recognize instantly that Lee SooHyuk was between the main actors of that drama, but that negative comments led me to (watch) “Born Again”… Needless to say, I got to like him there even more. So I inevitably became a fan of him after “Born Again”. What are the reasons why you love your favorite actor? Primarily I love Lee SooHyuk because of his acting style. I find absolutely lovable the way as he is able to perform. For example, he can express emotions beautifully through a character…. He plays in a nuanced way with his gaze and his facial expressions, but without that he would ever overact a role. As I see, he is always on the right path to keep his performance realistic. My opinion is that his style is mature and therefore somewhat special too. This is something that makes him more outstanding among (Korean) actors. To see his acting during a drama or a movie, that’s always incredibly enjoyable and interesting for me. Here are my sentences/thoughts about his personality too… I respect Mr. Lee because - as I see - he has great will power and because he is someone who is hardworking in order to become better and he wants to give us the best with his job as an actor. And of course, he has that strong, impressive aura which may give you the feeling that he is always so confident, but sometimes he even gets shy/anxious. This makes him really cute, I will not lie… Yet, on the other hand he is poised and in his personality a nice calmness is combined with wittiness and good humor. Can you recommend dramas or movies starring your favorite actor for new fans? Besides those two which already were mentioned by me, I mostly would like to recommend “Valid Love”. That drama is really worth to watch because of SooHyuk. Then “High School King of Savvy” too… Or his beautiful web drama titled “Handmade Love” is a good choice as well. And along with these I also suggest to watch his newest drama, “Tomorrow”, of course. That drama has an important message, so I am glad that my favourite actor took part in it. Do you have an all-time favorite scene? Can you describe it or share a video? He has a lot of great and memorable scenes. I often rewatch those scenes which have an effect on me… Now I choose one from “Sweet Stranger And Me”. In this scene he was cute, funny, but scary as well - so watch until the end of it. What was your favorite answer given by your favorite actor in an interview? Here I need to tell that as a European fan it’s a bit harder to find a favourite answer given by him during an interview… It doesn’t mean that I don’t know SooHyuk’s interviews. But that’s a fact that we speak different languages and it makes this harder for me. Mostly because (Korean) interviews not always have English subtitles… And there are translations too which aren’t totally correct. Therefore it is possible that there are less interviews which I am able to watch or read comfortably along with understanding SooHyuk clearly. I don’t want to skip over this part totally… So I will share one of his answer which is very short actually, but it always makes me smile. His words weren’t either deep or wise, but I admire his honest, witty and quick reply as well as his playfulness. He was asked this question: “Who is currently being annoying the most for you?” SooHyuk just asked back: “What’s your name again?” This is from a W Korea interview made in 2020 - you can watch it on YouTube. What is your favorite actor’s influence on your daily life or yourself? Korean culture and history became interesting to me because of dramas, but somehow I feel that Lee SooHyuk inspired me to try to learn the Korean language - although my progress in studying the language is quite slow. In addition, I can say that he also has an influence on what kind of music I listen to nowadays… Thanks to him I get to know and like some interesting singers/musicians whom I didn’t know or listen to in the past. Not least, his positive influence on my daily life is that somehow my mind is less busy with bad things in my life… Maybe this is strange and not really noticeable for others, but I often feel this since I became a fan… So I am thankful to SooHyuk because his work and his personality have such a beneficial influence. For Kpopmap readers who are not familiar with Korean dramas/movies yet, please tell us what makes Korean actors and Korean dramas/movies attractive to you. I will not say that Korean actors/actresses are a lot different than Hollywood actors/actresses because I think that they are not different . They are on the total same level in talent. This means actually that I find their talent attractive. And Korean dramas are attractive to me because most of them are created in high quality… I am talking about the creativity of the visual settings for example, and the beautiful costumes in the case of historical dramas. Plus also the awesome music in them - including vocal songs - definitely add more charm to the atmosphere of these shows and their thrilling and emotional stories. I encourage to watch Korean dramas/ movies anybody who likes period dramas and historical movies or those who enjoy to watch thrillers. But there are many dramas in the comedy category too… The selection is wide/good. What genre do you want your favorite actor to appear in? What’s the reason? SooHyuk is perfect for fantasy dramas, for playing supernatural characters, but he is really awesome at playing human characters too… Somehow if he play an ordinary person then he makes a stronger effect on me, on my emotions. So personally I wish to see him to play a human (character) next time. And, after his role as Park JoongGil in “Tomorrow”, I get the desire to see him in sageuk maybe. Yes, I think it would be nice if he would take a real main role in a sageuk where there wouldn’t be fantasy elements in the story… Or it would be also interesting if he would appear in a psychological thriller. I think both genres would fit him. But what is most important anyway is that he takes roles which he finds comfortable to play. Which actors would you like your favorite actor to act with? What’s the reason? I would like to see Lee SooHyuk and Woo DoHwan in the same drama or movie - again, because Woo DoHwan also appeared in “Sweet Stranger And Me”, but there wasn’t interaction between their characters. It would be very good to see them together - two of these great actors. Plus nowadays it came into my mind that Won JinAh would be good as a female co-star on SooHyuk’s side… I liked her dramas and by my opinion she is an actress who has a similar acting style to SooHyuk’s acting style. Maybe they could work well to play a couple? I would be happy if one of these ‘‘options’’ would happen in the future maybe. Do you feel there are any misunderstandings, things that are not well known, or any prejudices about your favorite actor? Well… It’s a bit funny to repeat what SooHyuk also use to say often… But he really isn’t a scary man. True, he looks cold at the very first glance, but he is a kind person. I dare to say that his fellow actors and also his fans like him so much because of his nice and bright personality. And I have a feeling that people have a strange tendency to treat him as a rookie actor, but actually he started his acting career more than 10 years ago and he has played a variety of roles since then. He works hard and puts effort into his performances… So not right to say/think that he always plays the total same type of cold, aloof or cruel characters. This is not the case at all. Which character played by your favourite actor do you think deserved better? Other fans would choose Kim SooHyuk from “Born Again”, I am sure… However it’s Kim Joon to me. Because Carpenter Kim is very close to my heart… That character make me very emotional and I feel symphaty towards him. Loads of sympathy. I don’t say that I have real problem with the ending of “Valid Love” because it isn’t have a really bad ending… But yet it isn’t have a really happy ending either for Kim Joon… On a way he would had deserve a bit better. Which co-actor do you think had the best chemistry with your favourite actor? I say actress Shin DoHyun. I really liked both of them as Na JiNa and Cha JooIk in “Doom At Your Service”. To me only they and the chemistry between their characters made the whole drama watchable and less boring. And honestly they even looked pretty together. What’s your favourite 2022 moment involving your favourite actor? Every single second of SooHyuk as Park JoongGil. And his cute behind the scene moments too with his co-actors during the making of “Tomorrow”. Describe them in 5 words These 5 words come into my mind because of SooHyuk: honest, talented, poised, unique and cute. If you could spend the day with them, what would you want to do together? Maybe it’s not really the most creative idea, but if I could spend a day in SooHyuk’s company then I would have suggest watching movie(s)…😅 Is there any role you want to see your favorite actor do? I have a few own role ideas for SooHyuk in my head… All of these ideas could be a bit weird or unique, but maybe there will be someone who will find them interesting. One of them is the role of Sherlock Holmes… Yep. You read it well. Somehow he reminds me to that character quite much and I can imagine him to play the legendary detective very well in a K-Drama version/adaptation - even though, I know that there are already a ton of adaptation of the Sherlock Holmes stories. And I think it would be also interesting if SooHyuk would play a similar role to the assassin character in the movie titled “Dead in a Week (Or Your Money Back)”… Of course, some changes would be needed in the story, but he would be good in a role like that. Such a role would be funny too. What about your favourite actor do you relate to the most? It’s not a special thing and I can’t explain it well, but we both are introverted persons, therefore maybe I can relate to SooHyuk in some introverted things or habits. Have you ever made a new friend because of K-Dramas? Yes, I have made new friends thanks to K-Dramas. True, that they are online friends, but I am glad that I have them and that I can talk with them about dramas, about SooHyuk or even about other topics too. I would like to mention here that there is a Hungarian site where I found great and understanding people whos also love K-dramas. I am thankful to them. And there are some fellow SooHyuk fans too whom I met on Instagram - they are awesome too. 🤍 Viola’s message to Lee SooHyuk: This is my message to Lee Soo Hyuk. Dear Mr. Lee… I want to express my gratitude. 🙏 Thank you for being such a really great actor who always amazes us with the high level of your talent. Thank you for your constant professionalism and for working hard on your projects for years. 👍👍👍 Thank you for making us smile with your honest/natural cuteness - or even with those grumpy selfies of yours.😆😊 Thank you for/if reading what we write in comments - hope your fans are also able to make you smile often with their words. Your fan team is really love you, including international fans. And finally, I am sending my personal thanks to You for keeping my dark thoughts away. I think I am lucky because I found you. ♡♡♡ Sincerely, your number one fan from Hungary (lsoohyukfandimma) ✌️ Thank you for answering our questions, Viola. If you are interested in joining Kpopmap Fan Interview Project, please get in touch with us at [email protected] Everyone is welcome to participate.
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