This is Jung Eun-chae‘s ‘rediscovery’.

Jung Eun-chae has succeeded in capturing the attention of viewers through the tvN drama ‘Retirement’, which is enjoying high viewer ratings.

Her ‘popularity’ has already been proven through her previous works ‘Anna’ and ‘Pachinko’, but this time, she is being re-emerged with reactions like “Does Jung Eun-chae look like that?”.

In the drama, which is based on the women’s national theater in the 1950s, Jung Eun-chae appears as the top star of the Maeran National Theater Company.
The character Moon Ok-kyung she plays is a ‘Nimai’, which means an attractive male protagonist in a women‘s national theater. She enjoys wearing a suit and tie and dresses up like a man not only on the national theater stage but also in everyday life.

With her neutral voice and boyish charm, she captured the hearts of female fans in their 20s.

She especially gained the title of ‘The epitome of good looks (good looks + pretty looks)’ with her shortest haircut since her debut, which heightened her immersion into the character.

The chemistry between Jung Nyeon, played by Kim Tae-ri, and her character, Jung Eun-chae, also became a catalyst for interest in Jung Eun-chae.

In the drama, Moon Ok-kyung discovers Jung Nyeon, a genius, by chance in the target market, brings him to Seoul, and has him practice traditional Korean music, fulfilling the role of a ‘master’.

She enriches the ‘master-songwriter narrative’ by being the only one in a traditional Korean music troupe where everyone is a competitor, helping Jung Nyeon both materially and spiritually.

Jung Eun-chae boasts a high level of synchronization with her character thanks to her transformation and efforts.

As the nickname ‘Crown Prince of Gukgeuk’ suggests, he caught everyone’s attention by showing off his extraordinary skills in the 6th episode that aired on the 27th of last month. Jung Eun-chae took on the role of Prince Hodong in the Maeran Gukgeuk Troupe‘s regular performance ‘Ja Myeong-go’, giving off a charismatic performance that was also plentiful to see.

In fact, before filming, he learned martial arts such as mokgeom from action school in addition to basic singing and dancing.

In this way, Jung Eun-chae has come to rank 5th in a recent survey of TV·OTT integrated actors’ topicality with her diverse acting and persuasive portrayal of characters.



Reporter Lee Jeong-yeon annjoy@donga.com