‘Pachinko’: Actor Youn Yuh-jung Felt Insulted Being Asked to Audition for Her Role
Apple TV+‘s Pachinko has been described as a smash hit and a likely success for award season. Based on Min Jin Lee’s novel of the same name, the limited series tells a Korean diaspora story during the invasion of Japan in South Korea and its effect on four generations of a family. Not only has its storyline caught attention, but its main cast. Award-winning South Korean actor Youn Yuh-jung is a veteran in the industry, but the actor felt insulted when asked to audition for Pachinko.
Youn Yuh-jung plays an older version of the leading character in ‘Pachinko’
The series is brought to life using the story of one central character. Audiences will follow the birth, childhood, and adulthood of Sunja. Actor Jeon Yu-na plays a young Sunja and Kim Min-ha and a teenager version. Sunja is a Korean woman born in Yeongdo-gu, Busan, who a shaman deemed to be her family’s push to endure.
Audiences will watch her childhood, her most emotional moments, her journey to becoming a young woman, and as the Japanese occupation ravages South Korea. The purpose of Pachinko is to tell the diaspora story of Yunja’s family through the generations. Playing an older and elderly version of Sunja is Academy Award-winning actor Youn.
In the Pachinko, Youn’s character has lived a long and turmoiled life to ensure her livelihood and her family’s. Youn’s older version of Sunja will show how far she has come as she has assimilated into Japan. She comes to face her emotional past in a reawakening alongside her family.
Youn Yuh-jung threw out the ‘Pachinko’ script when told she had to audition
On-screen entertainment is not only special to American Hollywood. Anyone who has been a longtime fan of South Korean culture and entertainment would have easily recognized Youn before her rise to fame in American cinema. The 74-year-old actor started her career in the 60s and rose to become a household name in Korea.
Youn’s accolades are extensive, and her career impressive. According to AllKPop, Youn felt insulted when she was told by Apply TV+ to audition for her role as Sunja in Pachinko. In an online press conference for the series, Youn explained, “It didn’t make sense for me to audition after acting for decades.”
Youn continued to explain she learned in America that actors audition for the roles regardless of age and career. As a Korean, the concept was new for Youn. If the audition went poorly, it has a more dire effect on her career, according to Youn.
“If I auditioned and then the show said, ‘we don’t think you’re suitable for this role,’ then in our industry people will say, ‘Youn Yuh Jung failed the audition.’ I couldn’t lose my 50-year career for this one role, so I threw out the eight scripts I received by the front door,” said Youn. Apple TV+ later explained to Youn this was not the case and she joined the series.
The South Korean actor has had an extensive career
Youn became known to international audiences when she starred in the 2020 movie Minari as Soon-ja. Her supporting role as mother to the leading female character won her the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. Youn became the first South Korean actor to win in the category.
With Pachinko slated to also be a winner, Youn was already a star over her almost 55-year career. Her earliest win was in 1971 starring in the movie Woman of Fire. Youn continued to grow her career on the big screen in roles such as The Housemaid alongside Lee Jung-jae and The Bacchus Lady.
She became well known for her matriarchal roles on the small-screen in dramas such as Be Strong Geum Soon, Daughters-in-Law, My Husband Got a Family, and Dear My Friends.
