[Guest Post] The Great Kim Myung-min
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By Eve Berliner
In a transmutation of infinite mystery, he seeps into the interior of the character and disappears into its burning essence. He is the mind. He is the body. He is the history. He is Beethoven in the guise of Maestro Kang, his hair flying in the wind, the majesty upon him ("Beethoven Virus"). He is Jang Joon-hyuk, the brilliant surgeon, relentless, amoral, the genius with the heart of ice and arrogance who leaves you haunted and weeping ("White Tower"). He is the beautiful young man, Jong-woo, brave and ironic, stricken by Lou Gehrig's Disease ("Closer to Heaven"), in a state of dying as he falls deeply in love.
He devours the character and the character devours him. He is brutal to himself, going to the precipice in pursuit of the truth of the character, turning himself into a skeleton, emaciated and weakened, starving himself to the edge of life, disintegrating as the disease ate at him, consumed him, a 45-pound loss, suffering as Jong-woo, being Jong-woo.
Deep complex characters.
And when it is time to let it go, he plunges into the abyss. Something is lost from him. Something that was buried in the deep of him.
Kim Myung-min, among the great actors of the world.
In South Korea, at the top of the ethereal mountain.
* * *
He struggled in obscurity for years, anonymous bit parts, amateur stage roles, faceless appearances in the world of Korean television drama, until the accumulation of despair overtook him and he made the dreaded decision to abandon acting and relocate to New Zealand -- give up on it, give up. He would take his pregnant young wife by the hand and open an electronics business in New Zealand.
There had been high hopes. In 1996, he won the Sixth Annual Seoul Broadcasting System [SBS] Talent Contest, competing against 400 aspiring performers. In 2000, he was acclaimed Best New Actor and declared a "promising new face". His 2001 debut as a lead actor in the dark suspense film, "Sorum", drew attention and praise. Once again he was named Best New Actor.
And yet, like a shadow, he returned to obscurity, disappeared off the radar; going nowhere. The terminal blow was the motorcycle stunt accident for the film, "Stuntman", an acrobatic ride that resulted in a four month hospitalization, smashed legs, surgeries, pain and thoughts of letting go the dream. The year 2004 was a bottomless pit.
It was to be the strange confluence of destiny in the darkest hour, the beautiful birth of his son, Jae-ha and the simultaneous coming of the "Immortal Admiral Yi Sun-shin", who arose out of the mist, the role that would transform his destiny, the true birth of his life as an actor. He viewed it as a gift from his son.
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