Actor Lee Do-hyun talks praise and parenthood

Television

Published: 14 Jun. 2023, 07:01 Updated: 15 Jun. 2023, 15:59

Actor Lee Do-hyun talks praise and parenthood

Actor Lee Do-hyun [YUE HUA ENTERTAINMENT]

Actor Lee Do-hyun, who amused viewers with his acting skills in the mega-hit Netflix series "The Glory," once again earned praise with his role in JTBC's “The Good Bad Mother," which recently wrapped up its 14 episodes on June 8.

Lee says he has always been a person who "over prepares and tries too hard" to perfectly portray the characters he takes on, but while working with veteran actor Ra Mi-ran in "The Good Bad Mother," Lee says he learned to get rid of that "bad habbit."

“The Good Bad Mother” topped streaming service charts as it both aired on JTBC and was released on Netflix, landing third in the non-English language show rankings for two weeks on Netflix. The last episode of the drama recorded a nationwide viewership rating of 12 percent and received good reviews from critics and rave responses from viewers.

Lee Do-hyun plays Kang-ho, Young-soon's son, who is brought up very strictly by his mother, in the JTBC drama ″The Good Bad Mother.″ [SLL]

Lee, who debuted in 2017 before rising to prominence with roles in dramas such as “Hotel del Luna” (2019), “18 Again” (2020) and “Sweet Home” (2020), recently made headlines with his performance as Joo Yeo-jeong in “The Glory,” acting opposite Song Hye-kyo.

“I could really feel the sensational popularity of ‘The Glory’ on the set of ‘The Good Bad Mother,’” said Lee, during a group interview on Tuesday in Gangnam District, southern Seoul. Lee played the son Kang-ho in “The Good Bad Mother” to Ra's Young-soon, the mother.

“’The Glory’ was released while we were filming 'The Good Bad Mother' and everybody was talking about it on set. Ra would greet me with congratulations and all the staff were discussing ‘The Glory.’ I was very thankful for the positive reactions people had.”

A scene from ″The Good Bad Mother″ [SLL]

In “The Good Bad Mother,” Kang-ho, Lee’s character, suffers an accident and has his mental state and memories turn back to when he was seven. Acting like a seven-year-old was challenging for Lee, but gave him the opportunity to hone his acting skills.

“I worked a lot on my tone and getting the character just right in the beginning,” said Lee. “I tried various versions of Kang-ho, making him younger than even seven, then making him seem a bit older for his age, and so on. In the beginning of filming we tried more than eight takes for each scene with the turned-young version of Kang-ho, and it was definitely challenging. But I took it as a chance to try out different interpretations I had of my character and see what I could do.”

As Kang-ho also becomes disabled due to his accident, Lee took pains to realistically portray his character's disabilities while at the same time being sensitive about the subject matter.

Actor Lee Do-hyun [YUE HUA ENTERTAINMENT]

“I wanted to portray Kang-ho’s disability and suffering in a manner that would not be offensive to those with actual disabilities in real life,” said Lee. “To downplay the hardship and difficulties would have been disrespectful, while to over-deliver would have also been insensitive. Director Shim Na-yeon helped me set the right tone for playing Kang-ho in that way.”

As “The Good Bad Mother” centers on Ra’s Young-soon’s and Lee’s Kang-ho’s parent-child relationship, Lee also reflected on how he would raise his own children in the future.

A scene from ″The Good Bad Mother″ [SLL]

“I always have a capricious perspective when it comes to parenting,” said Lee. “One minute I think that I would like my children to be raised in a free and leisurely environment, and the other minute I think that children need discipline and a lot of guidance. I think I will figure it out when the time comes. But parenting is the hardest job out there, it seems. That is also why I sympathize with Young-soon in ‘The Good Bad Mother.’”

To find out more about Lee Do-hyun, visit Celeb Confirmed!

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]