Among this season's Japanese dramas, there is a more special one, NHK's "Ultramarine Field".
What is special about this drama is that its main actor is a Korean, Shen Eun-kyung.
For historical reasons, in the Japanese show business decades ago, there were many Korean actors, such as the movie superstar Yusaku Matsuda in the 1970s and 1980s, and the actress Keiko Matsuzaka, who won the Japanese Oscar three times, all of whom have Korean ancestry.
Although in the past 10 years, the Korean Wave has continuously impacted Japan, but only in the field of idols, Japanese film and television dramas, there are few Korean actors.
Shen Enjing, who "turned out to be out of the blue", is quite eye-catching, and in the fiercely competitive Japanese showbiz, she became the star of the TV series.
This "Ultramarine Field" about music is shen Enjing's first time starring in a Japanese drama, why can she become the main actor of a Japanese drama?
Today, I will introduce this Korean actress and her development trajectory in Japan.
Born on May 31, 1994 in Seoul, South Korea, Shen Eun-kyung debuted as an actress at the age of 10.
Shen Eun-kyung, who was born as a child star, is definitely not beautiful among the Korean actresses produced by the sharp chin, big eyes, high nose bridge, and assembly line, but she is very attractive and comfortable to watch.
As a child star, she played a juvenile role in many dramas, and her acting skills have received many praises, and she has won the KBS Acting Awards Youth Acting Award many times, and it can be said that Shen Eun-kyung is one of the representative figures of South Korean post-90s actresses.
Shen Enjing has many masterpieces, many of which have been remade by China and Japan.
Sunshine Sisters Tao
For example, in 2011's "Sunshine Sister Tao", Shen Enjing starred in the film for the first time.
The film tells the story of the reunion of the "Seven Princesses" after 25 years in middle school, which is hilarious, bloody and touching.
The film won the second place in the Korean box office list in 2011, and it was also included in the Korean Film Grand Bell Award for Best Actress.
In 2014, "Strange Her" once again had a double harvest of word of mouth and box office.
In this film, Shen Eun-kyung showed a unique aura, natural acting skills and moving singing, she was nominated for best actress at the Baeksang Art Awards, the Daejong Award, and the Green Dragon Award in South Korea, and won the Baeksang Art Award.
Shen Eun-kyung became South Korea's first post-90s film queen and the youngest film queen in the history of the Baixiang Awards, and Shen Eun-kyung, who was only 20 years old at the time, embarked on the peak of his acting career.
"Sunshine Sister Tao" and "Strange Her" have a certain popularity in Asia, and both films have been remade in Japan.
After the age of 20, Shen Enjing took on different types of roles.
There are genius piano girls in the romantic love drama "Tomorrow Is Like a Song", there are hackers in the crime action movie "Manipulated City", there are girls who are bent on avenging their fathers in the thriller movie "Waiting for You", there are also race walkers in the independent movie "Walking King", there are also the innovative chairmen in the camp of mayoral election candidates in the political theme movie "Special Citizens", and of course, there is also the first infected female zombie in the explosive "Busan Trip"...
Shen Eun-kyung, who has developed smoothly in South Korea, suddenly made a decision in 2018 - to develop in Japan.
The outside world is rumored that she offended the actor Li Bingxian and was banned, and an actor should not have such a big influence.
The reason given by Shen Enjing himself is that he began to contact Japanese movies when he was in middle school, liked directors such as Shunji Iwai, Tetsuya Nakajima, and Hirokazu Kore-eda, and liked "Everything About Lily Week" and "Nobody Knows" the most, and he began to be interested in Japanese culture at that time.
She said actors need different experiences, need to learn, and if they can, she's willing to go to more places in the world to try.
After more than a year of hard japanese learning, she can basically communicate in Japanese, signed a contract with Humanite Office, and became a descendant of Sakura Ando, and she said that she also liked Sakura Ando's "Love of 100 Yuan".
In Japan, Shen Enjing began by acting in stage plays, and followed senior actors such as Tejinichi and Yuki Saito to hone his acting skills.
In 2019, Shen Enjing and Xia Fan starred in the movie "Flying in the Blue Hour".
This small fresh film tells the story of the female director of tv commercials, Sunada, who encountered a double dilemma in her career and love, but entered the year of establishment but lost the direction of life.
The personality of her friend Qingpu, played by Shen Enjing, is completely opposite to the protagonist, she is grinning, outgoing and kind, wearing a pair of flip-flops, her hair is always wet, and she lights a cigarette for herself when she talks about it.
Kiyoura bought a second-hand car, and the two decided to go to Ibaraki, Sunada's hometown, together, and began a trip back to visit his family, and in the rural life of his hometown, Sunada gradually found himself.
The director projected the most innocent and innocent side of Sunada on Kiyoura, she was straightforward and cheerful, and always had a smile on her face, from this role, she more or less saw the shadow of Shen Enjing in "Sunshine Sister Tao".
This year, for Shen Enjing, there is a more important movie, "News Reporter" directed by Michijin Fujii.
It tells the story of Takumi Sugihara between Yoshioka Eirika, a female journalist who is approaching the darkness of political power, and Takumi Sugihara, an elite bureaucrat who pursues the ideal path of civil servants.
Shen Enjing plays the heroine who exposes the darkness of Japanese politics, and as for the reason for using Shen Enjing, the filmmaker said: "This character has multiple identities and troubles and entanglements, and needs to transcend the ability to express language, and she can't think of anyone but her." ”
The South Korean media reported that because they were afraid of offending the Japanese government, no Japanese actress dared to play this role, so they specially went to South Korea to invite Shen Eun-kyung to play.
Shen Enjing has to overcome the language barrier on the one hand, and on the other hand, she must also show the helplessness of this character in the state of wandering and swinging in the choice and a separate individual and the invisible power confrontation, which is indeed a big challenge for her acting skills.
In March 2020, the film academy, the most important award in the Japanese film industry and known as the "Oscar of Japan", held an award ceremony.
Shen Enjing, who starred in a Japanese film for the first time, became one of the five candidates for Best Actress.
The last time a Korean actress was nominated for Nichio Film was Bae Doo-na 11 years ago, when she starred in Kore-eda's film Air Doll, but eventually lost to Matsu Takako.
This time, Shen Enjing's competitors are also extremely strong: Yoshinaga Koyuri, Miyazawa Riki, Fujido Tomimi, Matsuoka Moyu, including three generations of Japanese actresses.
In the end, Shen Enjing won the Japanese Olympic Film Queen Laureate, which is the first foreign film queen in the history of the Japanese Oscars.
Shen Enjing, who was holding the trophy in his hand, burst into tears and cried uncontrollably.
In Fact, in Japan, the status of prime-time TV dramas of mainstream TELEVISION stations is higher than that of movies, and the japanese Olympic film queen laurel is like a stepping stone in the Japanese showbiz circle, and in the past two years, we have seen her figure in more Japanese dramas.
For example, in "Seven Secretaries" in the ace slot of Asahi TV last year, Shen Enjing starred as one of the secretaries, and this drama also received high ratings.
This year, he starred in the criminal investigation drama "Anonymous" starring Shingo Katori.
This time, he directly starred in the NHK TV series.
This year, she starred in a movie "Tsubaki No Tsubaki", and the supporting cast includes Kyoka Suzuki, who is very familiar to everyone, and Zhang Zhen, a Chinese-Taiwanese actor.
The 28-year-old Isong, now the best-developed South Korean actress in Japan, is very exciting because few foreign actors can really put down roots in Japanese show business.