Kim Ji-woo (김지우)

2008/04/22 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Kim Yoon-jin, an actress from the ABC series "Lost", recently told Whoopi Goldberg and Sherri Shepherd on the CTV daytime talk show "The View" that being a star in Korea is different from Hollywood, because you are not stalked by paparazzi here.
Kim Hyeon-joo, another hallyu actress, confessed her bitter experience during a media tour to Hong Kong, when local paparazzi for a magazine sneaked into her hotel room and took pictures of discarded junk in her trash can.
Significantly, though, the paparazzi situation has alerted entertainment management companies in Korea. Local tabloids increasingly take paparazzi pictures of celebrities' private lives or print photos off the stars' personal blogs without their consent.
"It causes an extra burden on female celebrities, because the Korean public can be very cruel and conservative", says Lee Jeong-hun, an agent at Yedang Entertainment representing the Korean actress Han Ji-hye.
"A single photo is enough to dampen a career", Lee says.
Star...

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2008/01/24 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

The audiences for the musical 'Singles' are more than 80 percent female.

Women are packing out the theater for the award-winning musical "Singles".
The musical ran in Seoul last year, but this run is attracting an even greater number of single women, it seems.
"Musicals usually appeal more to women", said Choi Bo-Kyu, the show's producer.
"In 2007, 70,000 people saw the show and 70 to 80 percent were women. This time around, I'd say well over 80 percent in the audience are women".
Is this because the themes of the show resonate with young women in Korea today?
"That's part of the reason", Choi said. But he pointed out the additional appeal: Son Ho-young".
Son, who plays the Park Soo-heon character, is a former member of the Korean boyband g.o.d. and enjoys a huge female fanbase.
Lee Jong-hyuk, an award-winning movie and theater actor, has pulling power, too.
But the interest lies beyond just the pretty male actors. The plot does echo sentiments felt by Korean women today...

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2008/01/24 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

Thirty. Long before computers and the digital age, that number -- at the foot of a wire-service story -- indicated the conclusion of an article.

In present-day Korea, to many people, that number signifies the deadline for marriage.

For anyone who is feeling down about singledom after 30, musical "Singles", currently playing at the HOAM Art Hall, proves to be an effective escape from the constant pressure to shed bachelor or spinster status.

Based on the 2003 film of the same name -- which featured Jang Jin-yeong and Uhm Jung-hwa -- and "Christmas at Twenty-nine", the original novel by Japanese novelist Kamata Toshio, the musical is derived directly from its two predecessors, adapted by producer Cho Hang-duck.

Revolving around the lives of three best friends -- Nanan (Kim Ji-woo), Dong-mi (Park Hye-na) and Jung-joon (played by both Min Yeong-ki and Lee Geon-yeong) -- as they balance their careers and love lives during their 20s.

Musical numbers are set between Dong-mi's f...

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2006/02/10 | Source | Permalink |  Digg |  del.icio.us | Stumble It! | Share this news

A one-hour documentary about the production of the hit drama "Revenge" is being produced by a Korean production agency at the behest of Japanese satellite channel So-net Channel749 run by Sony Communication Network Corp, a subsidiary of global electronics giant Sony. The documentary includes interviews with the drama's producer Park Chan-hong, writer "Kim Ji-woo", and cast members EOm Tae-woong, Ko Joo-won, Han Ji-min and So I-hyeon.

A source from the local production agency said Thursday that the documentary is being produced to coincide with the broadcasting of "Revenge" on So-net Channel749 from April.

"It is very rare to make a special documentary for a Korean drama", he said. "The Japanese company is also showing keen interest in an event celebrating the release of the director's edition of 'Revenge', which will be organized by the drama's fans on March 5 to coincide with the release of the DVD. It also plans to cover this event to make another special program".

"Revenge"...

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