Jiwoo's 'professional dream' realized with 'police station next to fire station'

“I am going to visit my maternal grandmother this Lunar New Year, and I feel proud when I think of my grandmother who will be happy to see me appear in a drama.”

Actor Jiwoo, who recently finished season 1 of the SBS Friday-Saturday drama 'Police Station Next to the Fire Station', expressed her excitement about meeting her family during the Lunar New Year holiday. 'Police station next to the fire station' is a work depicting the joint response of police and fire departments who are the first to be deployed to the scene when a disaster, accident, or crime occurs. Season 1 ended last month with a viewer rating of 10.3%. Jiwoo played the role of Bong Anna, a police officer on the Taewon Police Station's forensic investigation team. Anna Bong is interested in various investigative equipment and cutting-edge investigative techniques, and is skilled in both forensic investigation and digital forensics. Jiwoo expressed her thoughts, "We all worked hard together to film season 1 last summer, and I am proud and relieved to see it aired. I think filming season 2 will continue until May."

This drama is more meaningful to Jiwoo because “I played a lot of student roles before, but this is my first time playing a professional role.” Jiwoo was happy and said, “Thank you for trusting and entrusting me with an attractive role.”

"It was my dream to play a professional role. I really wanted to try it at least once. I looked for works with professional female characters. I also watched movies about female hackers and watched related videos on YouTube. I was wondering how to look more clever. “I worried about whether I would look more attractive. I think the scope of my role has broadened as I get older. I have expectations and excitement that it will expand even further in the future.”

In order to emphasize the character's professionalism, the hairstyle was changed and re-filmed during filming. Jiwoo said, "Anna has an 'otaku' side to her. She is a friend who is crazy about work. At first, she had a hippie perm and long hair with her bridge dyed. However, after the first filming, the director seemed to be unable to see the character's characteristics clearly, so she "After filming, he suggested I have short hair. Before that, I also thought it would be okay to have short hair. So I cut it short and re-filmed it to match the season," he said about the behind-the-scenes details of the shoot.

While filming this work, which tells the stories of police officers and firefighters, I was once again reminded of my respect and gratitude for those with a strong sense of work. Although I did not meet an actual police officer, I participated in firefighting training with the actors. Jiwoo said, "We all went together and received firefighting training. Even holding a hose was difficult. I realized the hardships of firefighters and police officers. Isn't there a serial arson incident in episode 11? If something like that actually happened, I wouldn't have time to rest or even eat." “I thought I would work after eating,” he said, expressing his gratitude toward firefighters and police officers.

Bong Anna is a licorice-like figure at the Taewon Police Station who plays the role of a compass in solving cases with her quick wit. He has 'passionate chemistry' with Detective Jin Ho-gae (played by Kim Rae-won), whose hound instincts kick in when he sees criminals, and 'realistic sibling chemistry' with his older brother, Bong Do-jin (played by Son Ho-jun), a fire extinguisher who is usually naive but turns into a bulldozer on the field. ' he boasted. He also boasted fantastic team play with detective team captain Gong Myeong-pil (played by Kang Ki-dung). Paramedic Song Seol (Gong Seung-yeon) also helped Jin Ho-gae, who was struggling with the criminal.

Jiwoo expressed her gratitude towards Kim Rae-won. Regarding Kim Rae-won, Ji-woo said, "He is perfect for the role of Jin Ho-gae. I am impressed. I learned a lot from Rae-won, who looks at the whole, thinks about the situation before and after, and considers connections important. It is my first time playing a professional role, so I am also worried about how I can come out well. “There were a lot of things, but Raewon even thought about mine,” he said.

It is said that he and Gong Seung-yeon became close through commonalities such as exercise and being a companion. Jiwoo said, "I found out that Seungyeon and I went to the same gym. We also received PT together. We learned from the same teacher, but when we didn't go often, the teacher said, 'Please come.' She said, 'I've set up a PT time,' and said, 'You should come too.' “My sister and I both raise dogs, and we even gave her clothes that were too small for our dog,” she said with a laugh.

Jiwoo took a gap of about 4 years after appearing in the 2017 JTBC drama ‘Age of Youth 2’. In 2021, he appeared on stage in the play 'Dressing Room' and made a special appearance in the KBS2 drama 'Daebak Real Estate'. The official drama appearance is 'Police Station Next to the Fire Station' after 'Age of Youth 2'. Jiwoo confessed, "I didn't intend for it to be a hiatus. These days, the production period for dramas is long, isn't it? It takes about a year," and "I felt anxious because the work I was trying to do was canceled." However, Jiwoo reflected on herself during that period and gained the motivation to move forward again. He also spent a lot of time with his dog.

"They say that the best owner for a dog is an unemployed person. Haha. I'm glad that I spent time with Momo (pet dog) as she grew up. I had a lot of personal experiences and looking back now, I had a meaningful time. Working as an actor. It's important to do things, but I learned while taking a break that my daily life and life as a person are also important and precious. It was a valuable time where I could reflect on my shortcomings, think about whether I could stand up again, think a lot about myself, and fill my inner self. But now I want to work a lot. I took a long break. Haha.”

Jiwoo said she was happy when she was on set. The next confirmed work is the Netflix series ‘Gyeongseong Creature’. 'Gyeongseong Creature', scheduled to be released this year, stars Park Seo-joon and Han So-hee as the main characters, and tells the story of people confronting a monster that appeared in Gyeongseong in 1945. Jiwoo appears as the character Myeongja, a gisaeng at Chunwolgwan. He was careful about spoilers, saying, “We finished filming in September.”

When asked about other plans, Jiwoo replied, "Right now, I want to try a variety of roles. 'Police Station Next to the Fire Station' was also an opportunity to learn a lot about acting by playing a different character than before. For the time being, I plan to concentrate on filming Season 2." . He then expressed his passion for acting, saying, “I want to expand my acting spectrum in the future.” He also said, “I want to give good energy both as an actor and as a person.”

When asked about her own strengths as an actor, Jiwoo replied, "I try to be honest. And I try to find a side of myself that is not completely different from myself and put it into my acting." He continued, “It may be because I am lacking, but I try to bring out the parts of myself that are in line with the character and act them out.”

I plan to spend this Lunar New Year holiday with my family. Jiwoo said, "I usually go to my grandmother's house on Lunar New Year's Day and work while filming. I also remember going to Samcheong-dong with my mom and eating delicious food when Seoul was empty during the holidays." He then confessed, "I don't have any filming this Lunar New Year, so I'm going to my grandmother's house and my maternal grandmother's house. My maternal grandmother almost raised me when I was young, so I have a lot of affection for my maternal grandmother." When I told her that my grandmother would like seeing my granddaughter in dramas, she smiled and said, "She is happy. That makes me feel good. I want to do a lot of dramas for my grandmother."

“I think health is especially important. I hope you eat a lot of delicious food and take better care of your health in the New Year. This year will be full of only happy things. Happy New Year.”

Kim Ji-won, Ten Asia reporter bella@tenasia.co.kr