Yoo Seung Ho Worried About His Post-Army Comeback

Many Korean actors want to achieve certain career goals before enlisting in the two-year military service required of all Korean males, ages 18 and 35.

Not wanting fans to forget them during the two-year absence, some actors wait until they are almost 30 to enlist. Yoo Seung Ho, who debuted as an actor when he was only six, enlisted for his mandatory service when he was 19. And adjusting to military life seemed to go smoothly for him. He did so well in basic training that he spent much of his military service training others.

Still, Yoo worried that he would not be able to adjust after his military service ended. He wondered if it would be difficult to pick up his career when he returned. When the actor attended the November 11 press conference for his first post-service film, "The Joseon Magician," he spoke about his worries.

"After spending two years with a different image, I feared I wouldn't be able to find my groove again," he said.

He credits the film's director Kim Dae Seung with helping him get back in that groove.

"I listened to the director a lot," he said. "The director is attentive and meticulous, and with the thought that I'm starting over, I received a lot of help. I think I needed someone to lean on."

He chose the film because the subject of magic interested him. In "The Joseon Magician," he plays a magician who meets a princess bound for her arranged marriage. What happens between them is also magic.

"This is the first time magic comes out a lot in a film and the heartbreaking yet beautiful love story was also lovely," he said.

The film also stars Go Ara, Jo Yoon Hee, Kwak Do Won and lee Kyung Young. "The Joseon Magician" premieres in December.

If Yoo Seung Ho worried about resuming his career he wasted no time signing up for new roles after his discharge. Shortly after leaving the army, he appeared in the music video for Naul's "You From The Same Time." He was cast as a web comic writer who learns a lot from his car in "Imaginary Cat." After that he will play a lawyer who loses his exceptional memory in the legal thriller "Remember."