[INTERVIEW] Actor Ko Kyung-pyo

Ko Kyung-pyo [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

My name is Ko Kyung-pyo.
I was born on June 11, 1990. My birthday is the same as that of my favorite rapper Tiger JK.
I have a sister four years older than me. She works in finance and gives me a lot of allowance. When I shaved my hair off in "Jungle Fish 2," she said, "You look so scary in it." [laughs]
I'm 185 centimeters tall and I think this runs in the family. Both of my parents are tall and my sister is 171 centimeters as well. I do enjoy drinking white milk but it's not like I particularly enjoy eating food that would help me grow. I rather don't have a balanced diet because I can't eat things like clams and oysters.
I'm on leave from the department of cinema at Konkuk University. I had high expectations of getting to go to a school with girls because I had gone to both an all boys middle school and high school. [laughs] I also didn't go to class properly and my grades haven't been that great either but I've really enjoyed shooting short films with my friends.
Of those, "Kind Kyung-soo" is the one I remember the most. It's the project that I won best actor for at our school's film festival. And I was very happy about it because it was people only in the first and second class that usually won that prize but I won it although I was in the sixth class. The movie was about a boy who had a crush on a girl with a lot of bad rumors and how that boy comes to have mixed feelings about her after he finds out that the rumors are true after sleeping with her.
I once lived in a tiny studio in front of my school for a year. Because I lived in Incheon, I felt it was unfair that I could only play till 8 p.m. while my friends played at 10 p.m. at night and I had to wake up at 6 a.m. to get to a 9 a.m. class. That's why I begged my parents to let me live in front of school, saying that I'd get good grades, but I ended up having a hard time because I couldn't fit in the bed because of my height and all. Since then, I've become greedy about living in nice places.
Director Jang Jin has never complimented me directly for my acting in "SNL Korea." But one time, he silently squeezed my shoulder for a really long time. And I think he told other people, "This kid is at our company." I was quite moved then.
In CSTV's series "Operation Love" (translated title) set to premiere in February, I'll play the role of main character Kang Baek-ho's (Yoo Seung-ho) friend Song Chan-wook. I think I'm named after director Park Chan-wook because I'll be an aspiring film director. And my character is supposed to be more mature than other characters my age.
I'm really bad with cold weather. When I'm out for shoots these days... man... it's crazy. And if I have to shoot scenes where I'm reminiscing on something from the summer, I need to wear short sleeves. [sighs] And that makes me feel like I'll faint. I wasn't this bad with the cold back in high school because I was okay with a padded jacket on top of shorts and a short-sleeved shirt but I now have to wear three jackets at once. I think my constitution changed from living away from my parents.
I look up my name on blogs and SNS' everyday. And it felt great when I saw people having written things like 'He seems promising,' 'He's good-looking but will do anything' and 'He's like the Andy Samberg of Korea.' But I'm very scared of having anti-fans. I get hurt easily so I'm hoping I won't have any.
Actor Ryu Duk-hwan of my agency is the type of person that I can't approach easily. What I admire about him so much is that he pursues both his studies and acting career but he got a scholarship for studying hard. And I think that's amazing. There's not that much of an age difference between us but he's someone I really look up to. He's really a great man to me.
I deify MBC's "Infinite Challenge." I've watched it since a very long time ago. And in high school, it was my dream to become a member of "Infinite Challenge." Everyday, I even go to the restaurant that Haha owns. That's why Haha recognizes me now. He says, "You're here again? I'll give you some freebies." [laughs] He's funny.
If I could appear on "Infinite Challenge," I'd like to try doing everything that the members of the show did. I don't care about ruining my image because I've gone as far as I can in terms of that. But I'm guessing it'll take at least five years for me to become famous enough to appear on the show.
I'd like to become a one-of-a-kind person. Someone with an image that is nice enough to have no anti-fans like Yoo Jae-suk yet be an actor who can play roles that are serious enough to be played by Han Suk-kyu or Song Kang-ho. I hope I'll be able to become someone that can balance the two.

Ko Kyung-pyo [Lee Jin-hyuk/10Asia]

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