Viki

Hyun Juni is a former rock band singer who has been making the transition to an acting career gradually, and her latest role in SBS's I Am Legend has garnered her the most attention to date. The following is a profile and interview with the actress.

SONG OF THE DAY

Bella Mafia - "소리없이" (Without a sound), a repost. Bella Mafia is the four-member girl rock band that Juni fronted. [ Download ]

Bella Mafia - "널 기도해" (you pray), a repost. [ Download ]

"I'll remember you… Ha Yi-deun." Could anyone forget that moment in MBC's Beethoven Virus? The old man forgetting his life due to dementia and the talented but poor girl forged a friendship through music; and like the old man repeating the girl's name over and over, Ha Yi-deun remains impressed in our memories.

"Genius musician? I really wanted the role."

"What kind of girl looks like that and talks like that, with those facial expressions? When she cries, there's no trace of prettiness in her crinkled face, and people find it odd." Suddenly one day, like she dropped from a strange land with her unfamiliar face, and wearing an expression full of discontent like she was fighting the entire world, the young woman Ha Yi-deun came holding a flute in her hand. These days she holds a guitar instead, playing the gifted guitarist Ah-reum in SBS's I Am Legend, who is the youngest in the Comeback Madonna Band led by Jeon Seol-hee (Kim Jung-eun).

Juni in Beethoven Virus

However, unlike those other wispy actresses her age who all sort of look the same, Juni has a darkish face with large eyes and a bold dot on one cheek, not at all common. She has the added complication of playing a young mom who is raising a baby after getting pregnant with a fellow idol trainee back in high school and getting kicked out of the group. "To be honest, it was a little burdensome to play this role after playing a rebellious type (Beethoven Virus) and someone who got accidentally pregnant (Take Off). But although I've played a gifted hacker (IRIS), I really wanted to play a gifted musician." Hearing this frank admission, one can guess at Juni's long-standing connection with music.

Actually, like her Ha Yi-deun character in Beethoven Virus, Juni started playing the flute at a young age and was a promising performer in a junior orchestra. However, with her future and schooling practically laid out for by the time she was in high school, the desire to want to sing made her start a band and not go to music college. "Both had their appeal, but I'd played the flute for a long time, and I think I wanted to live a younger life. I'd always said, 'I'll suffer while I'm young and relax when I'm older,' like an old soul. [Laughs]"

When she was in a rock band, she caught the eye of Beethoven Virus director Lee Jae-kyu while appearing in the musical Bandit, and began acting in earnest. "I hadn't acted in a systematic way before, but character analysis and rehearsal is all the same so I don't feel disappointed or have regrets about the opportunity that was gven to me." When she acted in Take Off, she observed and referenced the way that restaurant workers who were ethnic Koreans [in China] deliberately spoke quietly to hide their own accents. In I Am Legend, she showed real concert videos to her unnis who had no real band experience and taught them how to act and gesture.

"When you're singing, you live as the main character of that song for about 3 minutes and 30 seconds. You have to appeal to people forcefully in a short amount of time. But in acting, if you don't die in the first episode, you have to live as that person for more than two months, so you need an incredible ability to concentrate. I think it's similar to the way that a band or orchestra's members are all responsible for their parts to create a harmonious result."

Multi-talented and abounding with energy, not hewing to conventional Korean beauty, she says of her looks, "I think people will get used to it with time. They're startled now because they're just seeing me for the first time." She laughs it off refreshingly, as a twentysomething with a lot of dreams but who also is grounded in reality.

"As I get older, I want to be someone who feels happiness in little things. When I was younger, I had a lot of ambitions and was able to do a lot of things so it was okay, but I don't want to live like that forever. I think it's good to be satisfied with the decisions I make with life at that particular time, and live simply. That's all." There's a reason for that so-simple-it's-intriguing response. "After all, that's the most difficult thing to do. That's why it's like that." Behind the playful twinkle in the eye of this girl-next-door Juni, there is hidden depth.

My name is Hyun Juni. It's my actual name, not a stage name. My grandfather went to the naming center to come up with the name. What does it mean? I don't think it has any special meaning. [Laughs] Every time I started a new school year, my homeroom teacher would ask, "Who's Hyun Juni? Are both your parents foreigners?"

I was born on August 1, 1985. My family is composed of my parents and my sister who is eight years younger than me.

I began to play the flute when I was in the first grade. I played for about ten years before I decided to join my high school band. My parents' reaction was that they wanted me to reconsider and that if I was going to regret my decision then I shouldn't start it at all, but if I wasn't going to regret then I should do it until I am the best.

I can't put down the guitar because I play a highly gifted guitarist in SBS' TV series I Am Legend. I used to have lessons for about four to five hours straight before going in for filming. I prepare fancy notes and show off in front of everyone on set so that they can see that I have been practicing. The audience on set respond positively to the song "Love, love, love" and I get explosive responses because I use my fingers instead of the fingering technique or a pick. [Laughs]

[Lee] Byung-heon oppa, the C.E.O of the agency, bought me a guitar, saying, "Make sure to play hard and send a photograph proving you are." I haven't sent him a picture yet but hopefully he saw it on television. [Laughs] I went around bragging about my guitar saying, "The C.E.O of the company bought this for me. It's really expensive!" and just like its hefty price it is really heavy! I thought that my collarbone would fall out if I kept carrying the guitar around so I shift it around while holding back my tears.

My face is on the dark side so the lighting director tells me, "Oh, there's no use even though we turn the lights on you." I cover half of the lighting when I'm standing next to the other actresses and actor Lee Jun-hyuk because you can see the difference in complexion because they are so white. That is why I act coquettishly in front of the lighting director to look lighter. [Laughs]

I check the viewers' message board whenever I get the chance to. I look at each and every comment. I don't get hurt from the malicious comments because I have been prepared ever since the beginning of MBC's drama Beethoven Virus. I refer to their suggestions about acting and clothing. I don't plan on changing the way I look so people will just have to get used to it. [Laughs]

I played the role of Wang Soon-deok, a young girl from Yanbian, in the movie Take Off and not even my closest friends recognized me. They said, "That was you? I saw the movie and I don't think you were in it." I comforted myself saying that it was because I did such a great job with my role. [Laughs]

Many people ask me what the best method is to learn how to play the guitar. It may seem hard at first but a person's skills and interest will improve drastically if they learn how to play their favorite song. My favorite song is Damien Rice's "The Blower's Daughter" and even though it's a hard song, I found an arrangement which was easy and practiced it. And learning how to play the guitar at an academy is a waste of your money because no matter what, you start off by playing "Romance." [Laughs]

I may not look like it but I'm quite a neat freak. [Laughs] I cleaned my house for 24 hours when I first moved out on my own. I stopped cleaning because I became very tired from a busy schedule but I'm usually the type who can't stand to see a pile of unwashed dishes or hairs lying around in the bathroom.

I have a lot of favorite bands but of course no one compares to The Beatles. I also like the band Chicago. They are classics.

If I were to make a movie about a band it would be fun to show the story of FT Island or CN BLUE. I feel a new storyline will come out unlike the usual band story or an underdog's success story. But of course, the main message that I want to focus on is moving the audience's hearts with the music.

Since I was twenty I have dreamed of performing on "Yoon Do-hyun's Love Letter" or a similar music program with a group of people with the same interest at an old age. I want to appear on the show with my white hair, wrinkles and with pretty makeup on. That is something you can't do without makeup. [Laughs]

dramabeans