Source: http://news.nate.com/view/20130425n18367
Credit: Chinese Translation-Sukbar Translation Team
English Translation: Sprinbsuk_USA, edited by tenshi_akuma
Jang Keun Suk, Talented Actor? Hard Work Star?
Recently, Japanese broadcaster PDs, journalists of magazines have made an intense interview about a star to get his latest news or analyze secrets of his popularity. It’s not only happened in Japan, but also in China mainland and Taiwan.
This star is Jang Keun Suk (26 years old). Not only in his homeland Korea, but also in Japan, China, Taiwan etc.. Jang Keun Suk has got great popularity. One of the indicators for a star’s success is the CF endorsement value. Arashi is the highest paid star (2 billion won). SMAP is ranked the second (1.5 billion won). And Jang Keun Suk follows them, receiving 1 billion won as a CF endorsement. Last year from July to November, Jang Keun Suk held his concerts beginning in Seoul, then Yokohama, Osaka in Japan, Shanghai, Shenzhen in China, Taipei in Taiwan and so on. Total 9 cities, 16 shows. The shows collected 163,000 audiences. Jang Keun Suk scored the jackpot. Also his China weibo’s followers reached over 6.66 millions （Springsuk_USA’s note: Actually right now JKS’s weibo followers has reached 9.36 million already, close to 10 million. Weibo is like twitter in China, since twitter is blocked in China). Definitely qualified for the title “Asia Prince”, He has been busy travelling to Japan, China, Thailand for his activities. Some say seeing this situation, the end of Bae Yong Joon era and beginning of Jang Keun Suk Time.
At age of only 26, no one has thought Jang Keun Suk’s brilliant success before. So what is the secret of Jang Keun Suk’s success? The driving force behind this success is that he has great understanding and analysis of the trend, he prepared well with good marketing strategy.
Started as a CF model at the age of 6. Unlike many child stars who failed transition to adult actor from a successful child star. Jang Keun Suk gradually beyond the child star image became to a matured actor through drama “Huang Jin Yi” and “The Case of Itaewon Homicide” with the power of the intense characters he played.
After “Beethoven Virus”, he started his stardom. And through the popular drama “You’re Beautiful”, he came up as a new Hallyu star. Even though “You’re Beautiful” didn’t receive good ratings in Korea, but it got explosive reaction in Japan and led him to be a Hallyu Star Jang Keun Suk. Followed by the characters he played in drama “Mary Stayed All Night Out”, “Love Rain” and movie “You’re My Pet”, he maximised the strength of his personality and good appearance therefore built his solid popularity.
Jang Keun Suk has unparalleled sense to understand the trends of pop culture. He has gained reputation as a star who is good at catching mainstream of popularity. “Popularity is just like beer foam. It can rise so high fast but disappear in a second. Popularity is purely my responsibility.” The words from Jang Keun Suk grasp the ideas of pop culture. This is an outstanding response.
In addition, as an actor the key thing for winning or losing is the choice of good roles. Jang Keun Suk chose the dramas and movies that improved his acting skills but meanwhile also strengthened his stardom. That contributed to today’s his success. And this is the different part between Jang Keun Suk and his senior Bae Yong Joon who was doing more business work than acting after “Winter Sonata.” But Jang Keun Suk on the other hand, he keeps having new works and stage performances. Not only it has generated great profit for him but also increased his popularity and fame, which made him more competitive.
He is well prepared for all these. One reason he has got high popularity in Japan is because he can speak fluent Japanese. Under the circumstance that there is intense competition between Hallyu stars in Japan market. Jang Keun Suk has prepared very well for it. Compared to other Hallyu Stars who has limited Japanese skills, Jang Keun Suk has advantage because of his language skills.
He is well-prepared for acting as well. PD Yoon Seok Ho (springsuk_USA’s note: he is the PD for drama Love Rain) said, “During shooting, I realized actor Jang Keun Suk’s biggest strength is that if people point out some problems, he can improve and correct them immediately. The perfect acting is counting on this ability. I’m sure this part comes from his natural born talents and from hard working.” Whatever with intention or not, Jang Keun Suk always has excellent marketing strategies. Generally speaking, the profit-earning source is very limited for an actor compared to a singer. Also actors has less opportunities to maintain and improve popularity than singers. In this case, an entertainer, being an actor and a singer at the same time, not only can increase earnings but also can maintain longer popularity. Park Yong-ha appeared on “Winter Sonata” is a good example. Jang Keun Suk is an actor with good acting skills and also he is passionate and talented on the music. That led his big success as a multi-talented.
Besides, unlike many Hallyu Stars who keep distance with fans and public to maintain a mystic image, Jang Keun Suk lives as he is besides fans. The closeness to the fans and being reachable is a very competitive marketing strategy. He scores high mark on that.
PD Yoon Seok Ho said, “Through working together, I found Jang Keun Suk is not an untouchable super star but a friendly and reachable one to fans and public. I think this is the big difference from other stars.”
Jang Keun Suk himself said, “Is an artist so special? It’s just a profession, no difference to other jobs. We are all humans. Why artists always have to be looking perfect? That’s no fun at all.”
Of course, there is some room for him that he should improve to consolidate his success. For example, some point out his problems related to self-management such as late arrival to the shooting site, and considerations for other actors and staff who work together on filming dramas or movies etc.. If he doesn’t improve these parts, there will be no complement to his success. His success can be gone for in just very short time. As himself said, “Being a star is like in a car race. When you’re at No. 1 position, it seems it lasts long. But once you look away and don’t pay attention to keep it, you’ll be the last one in the race in no time.”
JKS is a brilliant strategist. I’ve been following his marketing strategies compared to other popular K celebrities, all I can say regardless of the many detractors, this guy is a genius and he is only 26 years old. Just listen to how he answers questions, including the tough ones, and listen to those other popular celebrities too – sometimes I feel that others have an IQ of a cockroach – they look good but sound stupid. Not JKS though.
To top it all, he is realistic. He has his feet on the ground; he doesn’t discount the advantages and disadvantages, he constantly does environmental scanning of himself (his own product) and he is very good at it. He knows the risks and he has mitigating actions to address each risk. Some fans, would like to dictate on what they want him to do, like a robot, that can be manipulated at their whim. But an intelligent man, refused to do so. A yes person who doesn’t have the ability to think can be manipulated. But not JKS.
If I am a chairman of a global company, i will hire this guy as my main marketing strategist. Just supposing, his popularity will die down unexpectedly will he find work in the corporate world. I can say “yes” because he has transferable skills to be a chief executive.
Yes, he has a lot of detractors – from within and without. I think these are triggered by a bit of jealousy on why this person who is the only talent of his company can be miles ahead.
For as long as his feet are grounded, he’ll continue on and I believe that someday when his age surpasses his current image he can be a brilliant director too – stage, commercials, movies, dramas – you name it. He values the talents God gave him.
I will not feel bad if you have a girlfriend or if you’ll get married today. I believe your potential will skyrocket if you’re inspired. I will see more talent in that frail body of yours.
Very well said Candygirl and he is very smart and genius business man too other than he is an great entertainer. I think that’s why he has Tree J, his own company to run and that’s this company only has him, because to me he is more than 3-4 those Hallyu stars together. Hie talents, his wit, his business sight. And again, not all this means he is great. I think fans loves him also because he is so true. He talks with his heart but not only just what people want to hear. He is definitely an inspiration to the human world. That’s why his fans have been active and done so much charity works and help each other with great bonding. Love JKS and love being a fan to JKS. A live with JKS is a beautiful one.
Yes…multiple talents, high IQ and EQ and very witty…that’s our JKS
He’s always very sharp…. Must have equal wits to understand him
He’s such a mersmerizing being…
Don’t know about the late arrivals and lack of considarations from his crew towards other actors? Did I miss something?
I was backreading somewhere about the filming of LR came to ahold because of JKS but the Director rectified that by saying that the schedule of the Cri show was known before and was settled before he accepted the role so it was not his fault…so is this something to bash him again??
I would say his EQ is great for a 26 .. but still has alot more to work on. He can be bit expressive when he is in bad temper ( which seems to be quite frequent , understandable as he is a perfectionist and also a blood A sensitive guy). But then again … if he is overly cool and calm then we wont be able to see his transformation or growth as he age. I love reading about his self reflection interviews , just blow my mind how he still has a clear mind to do that in these roller coaster rocket kinda life.
Eve, I also feel the same way.. it is part of growing up (or transformation) process we see in this boy in man Suk.. his roller coaster life are also the experience eels would go through together with him ^_^
candygirl, BRAVO!!! very well said!!!! I can’t agree more to what you commented here.
As an eel, I’m super bias toward to JKS when being comparing to other STARs…kkkkk. I like every things about him – his talents, his look, his voice, or even his crazy wacky bad behaviors and habits.
Well said Candygirl. So I was watching this Chinese show called “Happy Camp” one day in which Prince was the guest, and there was a part of the show where the host asked him how the eels addressed him, and he replied “Asia Prince”. Before this part there was also some ice-breaking introduction made, the whole thing looked pretty rehearsed up to this point. When Prince was confronted with the question of whether it is mandatory for eels to address him as “Asia Prince”, Prince hesitated for two seconds (this part looked like a genuine impromptu to me), he did not deny nor admit directly, instead he asked the audience to welcome the Asia Prince right away, which was a really smart move, coz you don’t anyone to call you cocky and obviously he wanted his eels to call him this way.
I have watched some other episodes of the same show in which some other Korean stars were showcased. I don’t want to be rude, but one of the episode in which a Korean star (a really tall one and he became very famous about the same time as Prince) was so boring due to the fact that he was not very talkative, despite you can tell the hosts did their best in making the show less boring and the whole script was obviously tailor-made for him. For Prince’s episode I finished in one go despite it lasted for about 1.5 hours – for the other Korean star I could not stand it after watching it for 15 minutes.
KenKen… I have the same feeling as I watched Happy Camp with Sukkie as guest and Happy Camp with other Korean artistes.. even my non-eel colleague who watched the show told me Sukkie is good as I recommended to her as I find it so entertaining.. Sukkie’s expression of getting the audience to welcome me as Asia Prince really made me laugh so much.. I watched many times and still never bored. This is no wonder that the Happy Camp episode with Sukkie has got the highest rating and break the record for Happy Camp as many viewers feedback he is really master of stage, even my colleague told me that.
Everytime, I watched Sukkie’s concert DVDs (with no-subbed for some), I love to watch his expression when he chatted and interacted with eels in between songs… he is really so comfortable on stage and no script required as he can find any topic to talk about as I notice for Cri show in different concerts, he would bring up different things to talk about.. he just communicated and the eels would respond to him with consensus, laughters (when he joked).. this man just has so much charisma on stage as I can just watch him talk…I never experience that with other artiste before..
I am glad you feel the same way QQeyes007! I would just like to add one more point here: comparing the two episodes, fair enough, Hunan TV must have put in more effort in Prince’s episode as they were celebrating the 15 anniversary of the show. But I have to say even though there were obviously tailor-made scripts written for both artists, Prince’s episode was 10 times more enjoyable. Prince could have relied on script entirely – he didn’t, and he went beyond what was expected. He did his homework to brighten up the atmosphere – there was an instance in which he apologised to one of the host by saying ‘sorry – but I love you’ (cliché Canton lyrics, no idea where he learnt that or who taught him that) which made almost all the audience burst into laughter. I am impressed.
It’s ok if gets married already,
I agree that his accessibility to fans is one of the the reasons for fan devotion, but there are many component to his continued success; passion and commitment, willingness to try new things, and sincerity.
Especially love that he doesn’t think he is above others, hopefully that mindset will help him with respect towards consideration of others and he will improve his time management.
I’m a fan of korean dramas. I’ve been watching if for so long, it’s just recently that I’ve been a fan of Jan Keun Suk. The 1st drama I’ve seen is Mary Stayed All Night and that’s the start of my search for many of his dramas,songs and shows and personal stories. I am really happy for what he has achieved and for more that has to come. We may be of different culture but I am happy that he can bring joy to each and everyone of us. I was touched of how he treat his fans all over the world, I can feel his sincerity and love for his fans with his flying kisses even if I’m not there. To be always on top I think is so stressfull on his part and may bring sadness. I think he just need to do things with sincerity and humility. Imagine how wonderful this world is, he is loved by millions even of different culture and language. JKS is still young, good and bad experiences makes a better person. I always wish good health and happiness not only for him but for his mom and dad as well.
rosanna borla, Thank you for commenting here. Supper love your comment. Your statement, “good and bad experiences makes a better person,” hits home. It’s soooo true that not all JKS’ projects or choices he made in his professional life were good or considered popular ones, but thru good and bad, JKS definitely learned from those experiences.
What I love most about JKS is his determination and strong drives and desires to achieve that unattainable goals of his. As he stated before, even at the end, the result might not be achieved or turn out bad, at least he can say, he had tried it once or twice, and did his very BEST to achieve those goals.
Life of Asian celebrity is very rough and competitive, especially as many young and new fresh faces are being born every day….and the aging ones have no choice but to stay on the side-road looking on. Only few lucky stars who can maintain their popularity, and stay on TOP of the industry for long long time.
I’m not really worry about JKS will ever run out of things or projects to do. JKS is very multi-talented person and has GOD gifted charming characteristics. He has so many creative ideas and thoughts…..so with good guidance and strong sponsors, he can shake this SHOW Biz world!!!!!!
Thanks so much for translating this! Been waiting to read this article’s contents as its apparently a long and meaningful one. 😀
Although recently, a lot more news are focused to him, seldom are these kinds where a thorough and confident analysis of his popularity AND HARD WORK are being published.
So good this article that you can’t add to its words. 😀
Thanks so much again!! 😀
When will Korea realize the national treasure they have in Keun Suk. He is their greatest export and represents Korea brilliantly on the world stage. He is complex, fascinating, and a natural talent with a sensitive, compassionate heart.
Champagne wishes and strawberry dreams to all of JKS’ Eels and supporters around the world,
Susann
Susann, to us in ECI, Sukkie’s national treasure (NT) is something which needs mowing kkkk!!!!
Love this article! Thanks Sarah and Kaori for translating! Now, if only there is such an article from the Korean media….hmmm….
Farina, yeah, there is, the original article version is a korean one. 😀
http://article.joinsmsn.com/news/article/article.asp?total_id=11339221&ctg=1502
Great!! Thanks Ione 🙂
He is indeed intelligent. I read KoalasPlayground and they were commenting that he aged beyond his 26 year. For those who have seen him in person, is that so?
actually he looks younger than his age especially if he don’t put on any makeup.. the makeup especially eye-liner will make him looks more matured and sometimes, it is intentional ^_^
actually you can go to PrinceJKS Youtube as Sukkie will upload vids to share with eels.. here are some recent vids early this year like this one when he was in Japan promoting TeamH album while he was doing TeamH concert tour, he looks like teenager to me sometimes especially when he does not have make up ^_^ but his face is a chameleon.. so he can look mature once he put on make up for stage performance…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlxoqMWBo1A
When we see him at press conference or fanmeets in person, he has light makeup on and he looks his age. But like QQ mentioned he can look older than his 26 years when he has on heavy makeup when performing on stage.
In the DVD of the making of his Just Crazy album, during the first few minutes of the DVD when he arrived on set with his wet washed hair and no make-up on, he looked all of 18 years old
(QQ can you find it on youtube?)
Nothing wrong being late, my family habit always late no matter how much time you set aside to be early, something come out, such as forget to bring some important thing, traffic jam n etc. nobody is perfect, don’t blame him, poor guy
Being chinese but living in a country where being late is a sin…..the Dutch are always on time sometimes even a half an hour before the set appointment LOL…
I try to understand the issue of JKS and his time management…is he always late? help me to understand him on that issue..
I understand that a lot of asians are usually late..there is even an FB page for it “you know you are asian when you are always late”???
This seems in contradiction from the point he’s so popular in Japan where being on time and having the right work attitude and respect is held high…so he must be doing something good there…
Seniors…..please help me to understand him more????… Is he really that “bad” or not so different from his peers
Thanks for good article and his cute pics.
I love to read articles about JKS but love it more when it is a Korean one 😀
I hope to read many more positive words to him?
I want to say something about that….
“Of course, there is some room for him that he should improve to consolidate his success. For example, some point out his problems related to self-management such as late arrival to the shooting site, and considerations for other actors and staff who work together on filming dramas or movies etc..”
I remember an old actor from bethoveen virus say about he is coming late and also i heard because of his tight schedule PD warn JKS’s company. of course these are issues but I never heard that is something big. In love rain case, PD always say good words to him. I think it is something happened quite rare. for BV case,no body said about that just one actor. and JKS called him to apologize.
for staff and actor, as well as I know he always has very good relationships with them. Always read positive things.
I get that part as a Korean prejudice to him. 😀
For his way to communicate and management and trending way 😀 I think he is quite clever to know things but he doesn’t do the right thing always. even he knows what is the right, he choose the other way because he wants so.
I still think maybe a little change in TreeJ can be better. You cannot do everything on your own. Sometimes people should say us negative things too. It help the improvement. That doesn’t mean people say you what to do but just suggest.
He go a long way on his own, maybe a little help can improve and push things.
He is 26 and successful.
It can be understandable if he feel bored and don’t want to run. His life his choices his decision….
I wish to see him at Top always. Hope he will reach more and more…. waiting for his next drama ^^
Thanks for translations… I don’t know what we can do without that blog and translations.
Thanks tenshi and springsuk
hi its a mature person ,hi know verry well promote himself but i like more his strong carachter ,personality .thank you for this info about him .
JKS sincerity, which he shows naturally in his personality, will eventually touch the heart of many!
Jang Keun Suk himself said, “Is an artist so special? It’s just a profession, no difference to other jobs. We are all humans. Why artists always have to be looking perfect? That’s no fun at all.”
i love his humbleness.how come people call him arrogant? people might misunderstand him if they dont know him coz he is a contradictory person. no matter how..i cant see him as a bad or arrogant person..from his words..his gesture..and his act..i can see his sincerity.i believe he’s not fake or pretentious but a genius..he will achieved what he dream of.i believe..
What can i say eels? You said it all.I LOVE JANG KEUN SUK. I don’t care what other people think about him. I’ll stay loyal to him that’s it…love watching his dramas, listening to his music. He’s been my only favourite actor ever since I saw him in Hong Gil Dong since then i was silently waiting for his next drama that never came (had no idea then that korean actors would normally act in one or two dramas/year). I’m so proud of what he has achieved. I would patiently wait for him to reach the top. Jang Keun Suk – thank you so much for making me happy & making my life less stressful :).