Actor Nam Ji-hyun. Courtesy of Management Soop
In her 22nd year since debut, with dozens of projects under her belt. Her filmography boasts a range of signature works, yet actor Nam Ji-hyun’s eyes still sparkled with a vivid light. Watching her throughout the interview as she openly revealed her affection for the work, I felt certain that ‘when you love acting this much, there’s no way it won’t fail at the box office.’
KBS2 ‘My Dear Thief’ (hereinafter ‘Eundojeok’), which wrapped on the 22nd, is a project that proved once again that Nam Ji-hyun’s sincerity connected. Even amid a crisis for KBS historical dramas, it closed on a high note with a 7.6% viewership rating, and Nam Ji-hyun gave all the credit to the team.
“I don’t think ratings are something we can achieve by our strength alone. Because the script was good, we worked hard, thinking that if we portrayed it well, we could make viewers happy, and it feels rewarding, as if that intention has been repaid.”
Meeting Sports Kyunghyang at a cafe in Gangnam-gu, Seoul, on the 24th, she spoke candidlyranging from her thoughts on the success of ‘Eundojeok’ to facing the threshold of thirty as an actorsharing honest stories that span her acting life.
KBS 2TV ‘My Dear Thief’
In this project, Nam Ji-hyun performed a bold setup in which her soul swaps with Moon Sang-min’s. She didn’t stop at a simple fantasy of changing genders, but interpreted the setup as a key point of a ‘redemption arc.’
“The way the writer used the soul change felt fresh. It wasn’t just bodies switching; it was a process of directly witnessing the other’s life and coming to understand each other’s position. When the first switch happens in episode 5, Yeol-i, living Eun-jo’s life firsthand, truly feels why Eun-jo chose to break up. At the second change, they absorb each other’s ways and pull forward to change the world, which I found really fun.”
With co-star Moon Sang-min, she even shared small habits to hone the details. To absorb her partner’s traits, Nam Ji-hyun observed everything from his way of speaking to each individual action.
KBS 2TV ‘My Dear Thief’
“Because Sang-min and I differ in speech and style, I tried to absorb that. His great voice is physical, so it’s hard to imitate (laughter), but I added things like the habit of clasping my hands, putting my hands behind my back, or folding my arms, even when they weren’t in the directions. Later, it even felt like my eyes were starting to resemble Sang-min’s. It was fascinating.”
As an actor, her approach to characters has become more flexible than before. When asked about her sync rate with Hong Eun-jo in ‘Eundojeok,’ she began to separate herself from the character and view it objectively.
“In the past, I used to try to make it look like the character and I were alike, but now it feels like the sync rate rarely goes above 50%. Thinking about it now, Eun-jo had more love and was bolder than me. Even in situations where I would have accepted reality, Eun-jo tried to change it boldly.”
Actor Nam Ji-hyun. Courtesy of Management Soop
Having passed through a long twenties and entering her thirties, Nam Ji-hyun now wants to focus on the present rather than map out the future in advance. If, in her twenties, she ran toward ‘the direction of a finished outcome,’ her thirties are simply ‘a time of building.’
“In my twenties, I felt like I set a big framework of ‘it would be nice to be a certain way’ and ran to grow into that. But when I entered my thirties, nothing like that came to mind. So I decided that if I just stack up projects one by one, they’ll eventually take some form. I want to freely try what I can do now, in new ways.”
Actor Nam Ji-hyun. Courtesy of Management Soop
Her next step is the straight-up romantic-comedy ‘Make Me Flutter.’ Centered on the antics that unfold when the eldest daughter of a Confucian household meets the president of an adult-products company, the project has already completed filming.
“I like the balance of historical dramas that we shoot laboriously out in nature, but this time I think we can bring a new kind of fun with a ‘bustling-and-swoony’ rom-com. I’m grateful to those who loved ‘Eundojeok,’ which I was eager about, and I’ll keep working so I can hold on to those pleasant nicknames for a long time to come.”
