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| Jang Keun-suk, left, and Yeo Jin-goo, co-star of "Jackpot" show their thumbs-up at a press conference, on May 20. / Yonhap |
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| Jang Keun-suk in a sene from "Jackpot" / Courtesy of SBS |
Jang Keun-suk, a 28-year-old actor nicknamed the "Prince of Asia," has hardly been known for acting. Although his career stretches nearly 20 years, the pretty boy with flowing locks had rather earned his fame for his outstanding fashion styling instead of acting.
With his recent SBS drama series "Jackpot," also known as "The Royal Gambler," the singer-actor seems to change all that. He seems determined to show that he knows how to act.
As just seven episodes remain ahead in the 24-episode drama series, Jang has faced many challenges that none of his colleagues would like to do.
Acting as Baek Dae-gil, an abandoned son born to King Sukjong (1674-1720) and a maid, Jang in ragged clothes has been buried in the mud, stabbed, fell off a cliff and chomped on a live snake out of hunger.
Although the drama didn't perform as well as expected in viewership ratings, critics say that the drama series have given the actor a chance to expand his acting career, overcoming his fixed image and start anew as a serious actor.
Jang said that "Jackpot" was the drama where he could learn the joy of acting and has been one of the happiest moments in his life.
"I joined the drama feeling responsibility, pressure and thrill," he said during a press meeting at SBS Ilsan Production Center, west of Seoul, Friday. "The role has been unlike others that I have been in. While I was in it, the Dae-gil character provided me an outlet that I can put in all that I have, break the shell and come out afresh as an actor."
It is Jang's first historic drama in eight years since the KBS2 series "Hong Gil-dong" in 2008.
As for the difficult scenes including chewing on a live snake and crab as well as frequent action sequences, he said he was more than ready and didn't feel emotional repulsion.
"Hardships were what I expected from the beginning. There were some scenes that I myself doubted but when the camera started to roll, I was engrossed in the thought that I had to make something," Jang said. "I didn't give any second thought about it while shooting. I've been deeply immersed in his character and ordeals he was pushed into and have given my total trust to the director and staff. It was only later that I felt sickness. It made me go back to the primitive question of what a good actor is."
Jang added that he didn't join the drama for its potential to be his "life-changing" work.
"I don't usually shoot dramas thinking that they will be the culmination of my acting career. In fact, I think each work I join will be in the long process of completing an incomplete me," he said. "It's not easy. But, if I fail to trust the audiences wanted for this drama this time, I can work harder next time. It is simply not me, letting a chance go out of the worries of the results." The 24-part epic drama series, which began airing in March, is broadcast on SBS on Mondays and Tuesdays until June 14.
Its latest episode achieved an average viewership of 9.6 percent, according to the ratings company Nielsen Korea, outdone in its timeslot by KBS drama "My Lawyer, Mr. Jo," which boasts a 15.3 percent viewership.
