IU, Im Si-wan, Cha Eun-woo... Who are both good at singing and acting

Singer-turned-actors are appearing one by one on the small screen, bringing joy to the MZ generation, who are fans of certain singers, and bringing something new to the middle-aged and older generation, who are the main consumers of dramas. They are also considered 'role models' by fellow celebrities.

A representative example is Cha Eun-woo of the group ASTRO. He is playing the lead role of Kwon Seon-yul in the hit drama 'Wonderful World', which is scheduled to air its final episode on the 13th.

Cha Eun-woo's acting was an unsettling factor until 'Wonderful World'. From the JTBC drama 'My ID is Gangnam Beauty', in which he played his first leading role in 2018, to the MBC drama 'Rookie Historian Goo Hae-ryeong' in 2019, and to last year's MBC drama 'Lovely Dog Again', he has consistently used his image as a cold-hearted handsome guy to portray a cold yet friendly character. has been showing up In the process, Cha Eun-woo was criticized for his monotonous facial expressions and awkward vocalization and pronunciation, along with the criticism that the characters he could play were limited.

These acting controversy began to subside from the TVING drama 'Island' and ended with the latest work 'Wonderful World'. In 'Wonderful World', Cha Eun-woo broke away from the friendly image he had shown so far and attracted attention with his growth in acting skills. Even though he worked with senior actor Kim Nam-joo, who debuted in 1994, he is receiving favorable reviews for his awkward acting, rough action scenes, and acting with sad eyes. He appears to be breaking away from existing controversies over his acting skills and establishing himself as an actor.

While acting, Cha Eun-woo steadily took care of not only OSTs but also personal albums and activities, getting closer to the fans who admire singer Cha Eun-woo. He released his debut album 'ENTITY' as a solo singer last February. With this album, he topped the iTunes Top Album Chart in 21 regions and the Worldwide Chart, and set a record of initial album sales exceeding 210,000 copies.

Im Si-wan, a former member of the group Empire's Children, is also actively working as an actor, including playing the role of Jang Byeong-tae in the popular Coupang Play web drama 'Boys' Generation' in November last year.

Siwan debuted and worked as a member of Empire's Children in 2010. Although he stopped his activities in 2016 when his exclusive contract with his existing agency, Star Empire, expired, Im Si-wan continued to pursue music activities as well as acting activities.

He started acting as a child in the 2012 MBC drama 'The Moon Embracing the Sun', and his acting began to shine when he appeared in the 2014 tvN drama 'Incomplete Life'. In this drama, he received great praise from the public for his role as Jang Geu-rae, a new employee who survives at work. It is said that he realistically portrayed the feelings of a newbie in society as he feels in real work life. For this work, he received the Best New Actor Award in the TV category at the 51st Baeksang Arts Awards in 2015.

Even after the group's hiatus, Im Siwan continued to work on albums, including participating in singing OSTs for dramas in which he mainly appears.

Starting with the OST of the MBC drama 'The King in Love', in which he appeared as Wang Won in 2017, Im Si-wan participated in the album production of the JTBC drama 'Run On', the wavve web drama 'Tracer', and the latest work 'Boys' Generation'. Last September, he released a duet song 'Win for You' with the group Espa Winter.

Singer IU, who appeared in the 2019 tvN drama ‘Hotel Del Luna’, is also one of the most popular artists in this field.

IU began her acting career in 2011 by taking on the role of Kim Pil-sook in the KBS2 music drama 'Dream High', which featured many famous idols at the time. Afterwards, IU took on the lead role of Yi Sun-sin in the 2013 KBS2 drama 'You're the Best, Yi Sun-sin' and showed off her intense emotional acting. She received the Best Female Rookie Award at the KBS Drama Awards that year and was recognized as a new actress.

IU has also been criticized for her acting skills. At the beginning of the 2015 SBS drama 'Moon Lovers - Scarlet Heart Ryeo', the awkward historical tone and the process of unraveling the unreasonable comical elements given in the script were added, leading to criticism that it was 'more like a sitcom than a drama'. However, this criticism was largely resolved as IU stabilized her acting tone as the play continued.

The opportunity for IU to be recognized for her acting skills was the 2018 tvN drama ‘My Mister’. In this drama, he played Lee Ji-an, a dark and realistic character, and showed a different side from his existing characters. However, there was no criticism of her acting skills from the beginning, and she was nominated for the Best Female Actor Award in the TV category at the 55th Baeksang Arts Awards for this work.

IU's album activities and achievements as a solo artist are so great that she is said to have 'lined up the album charts', making it difficult to find a domestic female solo artist who can compete with her. He is currently conducting the '2024 IU HER World Tour Concert', which tours 18 cities around the world. Following her domestic performance, IU performed well in Japan and sold out all tickets to Taipei and six other cities in North America.

Like this, the appearance of an 'all-round entertainer' who can do both music and acting without any shortcomings arouses admiration from those who see him. Also, if a story goes around that their acting is lacking, it is difficult to gauge their efforts to show off the controversy in their next work. We hope that the efforts of these artists will yield greater results in the future.

Reporter Lee Min-kyung, Ten Asia 2min_ror@tenasia.co.kr