Actress Kim Mi Kyung, best known for her motherly roles in various Korean movies and dramas, turned down a hefty sum for a role to avoid doing a kissing scene.
Though most K-Drama fans know Kim for her “mom” image, thanks to her roles in dramas like The Heirs, Another Miss Oh, Her Private Life, and Welcome To Samdal Ri, she boasts a long-running career, having debuted in 1985.
The early years of Kim’s acting career was spent honing her skills in theater and even won the Best New Actress Award in the theater category at the 26th Baeksang Arts Awards. After transitioning to television, she showed her versatility by playing an impressive range of characters, including hackers, detectives, and politicians. But during this impressively long run of her career, Kim Mi Kyung has not played any melodramatic roles.
During an appearance on a JTBC variety show, The Receipt, Kim had talked about turning down romantic roles, explaining that she disliked roles centered around love stories and hence could never do a rom-com.
Recalling a particular incident, Kim shared that she had rejected a project in the past because the script included a kissing scene.
“One time, there was a kiss scene in the drama. I’m a mother with a child but I had an affair.”
— Kim Mi Kyung
“I could never do this,” Kim added, saying she firmly refused to do the scene.
“If I had to do this, I wouldn’t do this drama.”
— Kim Mi Kyung
When MC Tak Jae Hoon asked if she would have done the role for ₩6.00 billion KRW (about $ 4.50 million USD), Kim firmly responded, “If I were swayed by money and accepted the role, it would’ve ruined the project.” She described her disagreement with melodramatic projects as an “iron wall.”
If anybody was wondering how Kim survived in this industry for so long and carved out her own space in it, now you know! Her principled approach to work was definitely a huge contributor.
You can watch the full conversation here:
Source: Daum
