[Magz/article] JKS on Singapore “Teen” Magazine May Issue

Credit: Teen Magazine Singapore Author: Hidayah Idris

Edited by: Springsuk_USA @ jksforever

TALENT KNOCK-OUT by Hidayah Idris

Actor, Model, Emcee, Singer. 

It seems there’s no stopping Asia Prince Jang Keun Suk, as he adds another feature in his cap.

While most 25-year-olds are stranded at the crossroads of their lives, Jang Keun Suk has been living his dream for the past two decades. However, unlike those who shoot to instant fame after their first television appearance, the multi-hyphenate, who made his foray into the entertainment circuit at a tender age of five, only saw his career coming up roses, only after the blazing success of his 2009 drama, You’re Beautiful, which catapulted him to the crest of the Hallyu wave.

Like most top stars, Keun Suk’s road to success was fraught with so many difficulties and tears that his life story could possibly be made into an autobiography.

At a young age where his peers were playing with Ultraman figurines and kicking a ball around a field, Keun Suk was forced to grow up prematurely in an industry that grants no special treatment to the young. In KBS documentary The Center of the New Hallyu, I Am Jang Keun Suk, he said, “Even if it’s a five-year-old’s role, the child is given the responsibility of a working man. I started out like that. No matter how tired I was, no matter how much I wanted to cry or sleep, how hungry I was, how badly I wanted to go home or play with my friends, I had to forget all these at the filming venue.”

On the same show, he also lamented about the price he had to pay for fame. “Before [You’re Beautiful], I spent 20 years [in the industry]. In those 20 years, I had no friends in school and no memory [of] a lot of other things.” His growing up years might have been salted with tears and tinged with loneliness, but not once has be allowed himself to be bogged down by past regrets. He mused, “It’s pointless [having regrets] now.”

By the time he grew into his teens, Keun Suk was already earning his own keep. He revealed on an episode of Knee-Drop Guru that his mom signed him up to be an underwear model when he was a freshman in junior high. Embarrassed and afraid of being teased by his friends, the young Keun Suk was adamant against doing it, even begging his mother in tears. But once he heard the shutter of the camera, he realized that he wanted to be in front of the lens. Using his salary of 2,200,000 won (about S$2,400) from the gig, he settled a year’s worth of house rent.

That independent and resilient streak is probably the driving force that shaped the star today. Widely known for his blunt, straightforward personality, Keun Suk has ruffled many feathers (he even admitted that he is hated by most males), but at the same time, his bizarre antics and humility have stolen the hearts of hundreds of thousands of fans across the globe.