Jo In-seong arrives at a turning point

No one could have imagined that this young and willowy actor had it inside him. To begin with, Jo In-Seong, 25, has such a "pretty" face that a gangster was the last role one could match him up with.

But watching him spitting out swear words with his eyes burning with anger in "A Dirty Carnival", it becomes obvious that the role of Byeong-du was made just for Jo.

Debuting as a fashion model in 1998, Jobegan to earn popularity as a smart and handsome college student in the MBC weekday sitcom "New Nonstop".

With a persistent passion for acting, Jo has carefully built up his career through various TV dramas including "Piano", "Shoot for the Stars", "
Something Happened in Bali" and "Spring Days", but he has not been so successful on the silver screen.

Although the movie "The Classic" was a hit, the spotlight shone on actor Jo Seung-woo instead, and his other movies including "Love of South and North (Namnam buknyeo)" and "Madeleine" failed to draw big audiences.

But director "Yoo Ha" of "A Dirty Carnival" saw a potential Byeong-du in Jo.

"I liked him more because Jo did not have a masculine image. I saw the potential of Jo turning Byeong-du into a more convincing character by using his undeveloped images", Yoo said. "Cho seemed to know that he could not draw a reaction from audiences unless he first makes the character into a convincing person".

During the over two hours of running-time, Jo manages to have audiences fully focused on the screen. With years of effort and training finally paying off, the young actor appears to have arrived at a turning point in his career through "A Dirty Carnival".

By Shin Hae-in