Jang Ki-Yong Talks About Playing A Tender-Hearted Gumiho
In the Korean fantasy rom-com My Roommate Is A Gumiho, Jang Ki-yong plays a gumiho, a mythical nine-tailed fox that can transform into an irresistibly attractive human. Being attractive helps gumihos seduce humans so they can easily steal their energy, which gumihos need to stop being monsters. Unfortunately, the extraction process usually harms the person involved.
Jang has long dreamed of acting in a fantasy rom-com such as My Roommate Is A Gumiho.
“I was excited that I could act the part of a gumiho,” said Jang. “I was acting a role called Shin Woo-yeo, but I thought it’d be fun to make it my own.” pgslot
After 999 years Woo-yeo is very close to becoming human. He needs just a smidgen more human energy. While Woo-yeo has coldly accepted his desired fate involves harming humans, he becomes oddly tenderhearted and overly concerned when he meets Lee Dam, played by Lee Hyeri. He could extract her energy and realize his goal, but he cares for her and wants to protect her. The scary gumiho of horror stories shows a softer side.
Jang is adept at creating layered characters that audiences can believe are both vicious and vulnerable. In 2018 he won a Best New Actor Award at the Apan Star Awards for his role in My Mister, playing a coldhearted loan shark who occasionally betrays his fragility. In 2019, in the drama Kill It, he played a veterinarian by day and a killer at night. In the 2020 drama Born Again, he played a character and his very different reincarnation. Striking the right balance with Woo-yeo took a while.
“It wasn’t easy to understand Woo-yeo’s emotions and situations at first,” said Jang. “But the more difficult it was, the more I wanted to challenge myself. Also, I talked with the director a lot even before the shoot and started to fully understand my character.”
