In the currently showing ‘The Nuns in Black’, which has drawn over 1.5 million viewers, there is an actor who immediately captured the attention of the audience as much as Jeon Yeo-bin, who starred with Song Hye-kyo, who has returned to the screen after 10 years. That actor is Shin Jae-hwi, who plays the young shaman Ae-dong.

Ae-dong is the stuttering disciple of shaman Hyo-won (Kim Gook-hee), a close friend of Sister Yunia (Song Hye-kyo). Although she has not been able to properly demonstrate her abilities, she feels a sense of kinship with the possessed boy Hee-jun (Moon Woo-jin) and her good heart to save him, and she plays a decisive role in successfully leading the exorcism ritual together with Sister Yunia.

Shin Jae-hwi delicately portrays the emotions of the character Ae-dong, who appears fragile but has a strong inner self, and is leading to favorable reviews calling it a new discovery in ‘The Nuns’. In particular, the reaction was that it drew even more attention because the character was completely different from the violent delinquent student characters he had mainly played in Netflix‘s ‘Now at Our School’ and Disney+’s ‘Moving’.

When we met at the Saram Entertainment building in Mapo-gu, Seoul on the 12th, he sighed and said, “I‘m so relieved” about the positive response from the audience. This is because he was worried that it would become his ‘flaw’ among such an amazing cast of actors.

“For Ae-dong’s stutter, I watched a lot of related documentaries on YouTube and referenced the characteristics of people who actually stutter. Also, to prepare for the occupational characteristics of the character of a shaman, I learned from an actual shaman how to beat the drum and recite sutras during a gut. In fact, at first, I was obsessed with the idea that I had to ‘look like a real shaman,’ but the director told me that since Ae-dong is not a perfect shaman but a disciple, it was more important to show her desire to save Hee-jun than to look skilled.”

A graduate of the Korea National University of Arts (Korea National University of Arts), which is considered a ‘ prestige school for actors,’ he expressed his wish to continue meeting audiences with good works in the future, just like ‘The Nuns’. He also emphasized that he really wanted to act with his role model, Cho Seung-woo.”

“I think I would have no more wishes if I could act with senior Cho Seung-woo. He is excellent at everything from media acting to stage acting. I think that is really amazing.”


Reporter Seungmi Lee smlee@donga.com

This article is automatically translated using Google AI. If you notice any inaccuracies, please let us know at allkstar@donga.com.