Shin Eun-kyung Comes to Terms With Her Inner Child

Mothers with grown-up daughters look with some trepidation on the prospect of seeing everyone’s favorite movie gangster Shin Eun-kyung play a lawyer determined to marry a divorced man with a child in KBS2 TV weekend drama “Mom’s Dead Upset.” In eyes of many, she is an alpha girl, but to her mother (Kim Hye-ja) she is just a pain in the neck who is making the wrong choice.

The character Shin plays is supposed to be strong, yet viewers sympathize with her too. “I can understand her as if she were me,” says one comment on an Internet forum. “She is the reason I watch the drama.” This may be because there are some overlaps: Shin herself is a divorced mother with a son.

In an interview with the Chosun Ilbo, Shin nods along to these comments. “Right, I may look like a successful woman like (her character) Young-soo, but to my mother I am a troublesome daughter too,” she said. “Actually, the drama has made me look back on my life.”

That was one reason she was cast in the role. Jung Eul-yeong, the drama’s director, told her, “There will be sisters in the drama. The younger sister looks gentle but is strong inside, while the older sister is smart and strong in appearance but actually softhearted. And you’re perfect for her.”

As a result, Shin has often had moments when she could not control her emotions while acting. “This is the first time that I’ve played a character who is very similar to me. Because, like Young-soo, I tend to try to look strong and perfect, my marriage was hard,” she says. “And like Young-soo I was also sorry to disappoint my mom. She must have found it painful to see my marriage fail when she believed her daughter was smart enough to live a happier life than anybody else. Young-soo has made me mature.”

Shin says that she is learning to be brave through the character. “I am also envious of Young-soo because I think she is brave enough to fall in love regardless of a man’s conditions, even if he is a divorced man with a child. Now, at the age of 35, I feel I am learning what life is.”