Youn Yuh-jung retrospective; her career, life and filmography

지금의 윤여정을 있게한 그녀의 삶과 필모그래피

Youn Yuh-jung is the first South Korean actress to ever win an Oscar.
However, outside Korea, not many people know who she is.
With this in mind, our arts and culture correspondent Kim Bo-kyoung takes a look at her life and her rich body of work that brought her to this historic moment.

As Youn Yuh-jung picks up the Oscar for 'Best Supporting Actress,'... she becomes the first South Korean actress to ever do so,... and only the second Asian actress in 64 years.
Her unusual grandmother character in "Minari" is different to other stereotypical Korean grandmothers in movies sometimes mischievous, other times serious.

"I think that "Minari" has proven that her comedic timing is so on-point and even if other things get lost in translation in that movie,… you don't lose that sense of humor with her and I think that is maybe what really speaks to everyone."

Critics say Youn's distinct way of approaching roles has been developed over her long career.
Making her debut in Kim Ki-young's movie "Woman of Fire", Youn was only in her early twenties when she played a mad live-in housemaid.
Despite it being her movie debut, she won acclaim from the Blue Dragon Film Awards and the Sitges International Film Festival.
However, at the height of her career in 1970s, she married and moved to Florida,... where she spent nearly a decade as a housewife.
When she returned to Korea as a single mother after divorcing her then-husband, she struggled to restart her acting career,... accepting any role she could get to raise her two children.
One critic says Youn's determination to challenge herself with any role, even after money became less of a worry, may be the key to her success.

"Most actresses in Korea disappear after being in the business for a while, especially when their youth and beauty fade. However, Youn Yuh-jung has not rejected any role since she turned 50, actively interpreting the role she was given and making it her own."

She starred a variety of roles... from an old housekeeper in Im Sang-soo's melodramatic erotic thriller film "The Housemaid",... and as a cruel heiress in Im's "The Taste of Money".
In the low-budget independent film "The Bacchus Lady," Youn played an elderly prostitute.
In "Canola" and "Lucky Chan-sil,"... she brought her own characteristics to the roles as a grandmother.

"Youn is not a typical actress. Most of the time, Korean actors play similar roles and their acting can be quite programmed. Her grandmother acting - however - is not like anything seen in other countries. Although mostly being a grandmother is exhausting, she always broadens the possibility of reinterpretation and leaves a special impression on the audience."

With her flexibility and willingness to take on challenging roles,... Youn has finally made South Korean film history... and her success might open doors for more mature Korean actors to break into Hollywood in the future.
Kim Bo-kyoung, Arirang News.

#Minari #Actress #YounYuhjung

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2021-04-26, 12:00 (KST)