Mu Jin-seong Reflects on 'Typhoon Family' and His Journey as an Actor

"Actor Lee Junho kept looking at my lips. But I was looking at his eyes instead. Junho has such beautiful eyes. He's a friend with a lot to learn from. I was greatly inspired by his consistently positive attitude."

Actor Mu Jin-seong shared his thoughts on working with Lee Junho in the tvN drama 'Typhoon Family.' On the 4th, we met Mu Jin-seong at the TENASIA office in Jungnim-dong, Seoul, to discuss his role in 'Typhoon Family.'

'Typhoon Family,' which concluded on November 30th, is a story set during the 1997 IMF financial crisis, depicting the growth of Kang Tae-pung (played by Lee Junho), a novice businessman who becomes the president of a trading company with no employees, capital, or assets to sell. Mu Jin-seong played the role of Byun Hyun-joon, a villain who envies and is jealous of Kang Tae-pung.

The final episode of 'Typhoon Family' achieved a nationwide household rating of 10.3%, peaking at 11.4% according to Nielsen Korea. Regarding this, Mu Jin-seong expressed his gratitude, saying, "It was a 16-episode series, so viewers watched it for a long time, and I'm thankful for the love until the end. I played a villain, so I received a lot of negative comments, but it means my acting left an impression, so I'm happy."

As the drama presented continuous challenges for Typhoon Trading, viewers commented on the repetitive nature of the plot, describing it as "frustrating." In response, Mu Jin-seong said, "I think a drama needs a lot of stimulating elements to capture viewers' attention. But if you think about it, not everything in life is thrilling. I wanted 'Typhoon Family' to capture that feeling."

"Life is about things not always going as planned, right? I think viewers might have felt frustrated because the drama contained such realistic elements. Still, the thought I had most while filming was 'Let's realistically portray stories about people's lives.'"

He also mentioned working with Lee Junho. In an interview after the drama's conclusion on the 2nd, Lee Junho said, "When I met Mu Jin-seong, it felt like we were about to kiss while growling at each other. His lips and eyes were so prominent in front of me that it was amusing." In response, Mu Jin-seong joked, "No wonder Junho kept looking at my lips."

"Our acting chemistry was really good. We didn't have to discuss the scenes much, and filming flowed smoothly."

Mu Jin-seong, who began his acting career in the 2013 MBC drama 'Two Weeks,' is celebrating his 13th year in the industry. He initially dreamed of becoming a prosecutor or lawyer but was inspired to pursue acting after watching a play in high school. Mu Jin-seong recalled, "I fell in love with the curtain call. Seeing strangers applaud was very impressive. From then on, I dreamed of becoming an actor."

"After deciding to become an actor, I enrolled in the Theater and Film Department at Dongguk University. I wanted to be a junior to respected seniors like Choi Min-sik and Han Suk-kyu. After graduating, I was lucky to join a company right away, but I realized that an actor's life isn't as smooth as I thought. I learned that good acting alone doesn't guarantee success."

After a long period of obscurity, Mu Jin-seong found a turning point in his acting career with the film 'Perhaps Love.' He won the Best New Actor award at both the 2022 Chunsa International Film Festival and the 58th Grand Bell Awards for this work. Mu Jin-seong reflected, "It was a project where I learned a lot as an actor and as a person."

"Senior Ryu Seung-ryong, who worked with me at the time, gave me a lot of advice. I didn't realize it then, but that advice still helps me set the direction for each project."

When asked what kind of actor he wants to be, Mu Jin-seong replied, "I want to be an actor known as 'Mitboomu,' which means 'Trustworthy Mu Jin-seong.' I want to show various sides of myself through more projects in the future," he said with a smile.

Jung Se-yoon, TENASIA Reporter yoon@tenasia.co.kr